World Cup star urges soccer fans to join UN to blow whistle on hunger

Brazilian soccer sensation and the youngest Ambassador Against Hunger for the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) Kaká is appealing to the millions set to tune into this summer’s World Cup to take a stand against hunger.

In a new television advertisement, he tells aspiring soccer stars that one in six people around the world suffers from chronic hunger, many of them children.

Holding up a red plastic cup, Kaká encourages his young fans that they, too, can be champions by helping to defeat hunger.

The cup is part of the ‘Fill the Cup’ campaign, which he co-launched in 2008, which aims, literally, to fill a cup with food for hungry schoolchildren, increasing their chances for health, education and a better future.

Kaká joined forces with WFP when he was just 24 years old in 2007, the same year he was named FIFA Player of the Year and he received the Ballon d’Or, European soccer’s highest honour. He dedicated his then-team AC Milan’s 2007 Champions League victory to the cause of hungry children.

The following year, Kaká hit more milestones, scoring 10 Champions League goals to lead AC Milan to its seventh European title and kicking off WFP’s ‘Fill the Cup’ campaign to curb child malnutrition. He now plays for Real Madrid, as well as the Brazilian national side.