Football News

Some of the biggest stars of European soccer have agreed to participate in a charity match in June at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., for the benefit of Mikael Silvestre’s charity, Schools for Hope.

Silvestre, a French international defender who currently plays for Arsenal of the English Premier League, started the charity with the goal of building schools around the world and so far it has built several in Niger and Guinea. Schools for Hope is seeking financing for additional schools in Laos, in parts of South America and perhaps the United States.

“When my children first started to go to school I realized that education is the basis for a better life for poor children everywhere in the world,” Silvestre said Wednesday in a telephone interview from London. “I said to myself that I want to act, I want to be involved, with my own money. The focus is not on football at these schools, it is getting a good education, basic skills and professional skills, so the students are able to go out and get a good job.”

The match, scheduled for Sunday, June 14, with an opponent still to be determined, is being called All Stars for Hope.

The European contingent, in addition to Silvestre, will include Thierry Henry (France/Barcelona), Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast/Chelsea), Wayne Rooney (England/Manchester United), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal/Manchester United), Nicolas Anelka (France/Chelsea), Emmanuel Adebayor (Togo/Arsenal), Manuel Almunia (Spain/Arsenal), Frank Lampard (England/Chelsea), Ryan Giggs (Wales/Manchester United) and others. Silvestre said he hopes to enlist Arsenal Coach Arsene Wenger as the all-star’s manager and perhaps entice Pierluigi Collina out of retirement to work the game as the referee.

“We want to have the game in New York because I think that is the best way to get the players involved,” Silvestre said. “After a long season in Europe, they don’t want to do the game in London or Paris, they would find three days in New York to be more attractive. They want to go away from where they live and New York sounds more like a holiday place, it’s magic when you say ‘New York’ and some of the players have never been.”

Silvestre said that the school in Guinea will graduate its first class this year. The school in Niger’s capital, Niamey, draws children whose parents are lepers or otherwise disabled. He said it takes about $68,000 to operate the schools for two years. The charity hopes to raise funds to complete work at the school in Laos and there are plans for schools in Brazil, Argentina, Burkina Faso and perhaps New Orleans.

All the money raised from the sale of tickets to the game, Silvestre said, will go to the charity. The players are donating their time and only their transportation and accommodations will be paid for by Schools for Hope. An auction of memorabilia and items signed by players and teams (like a jersey signed by all the members of Manchester United’s Premier League and Champions League winners) would also benefit the charity.

“I want to make sure this is an entertaining game, a good show,” Silvestre said. “We want to fans to come back, maybe in two years time again in New York.”

NY Times