sports

Brazilian football great Ronaldinho kicks-off institute to help poor youth through sport

28 December 2006
Brazilian soccer star Ronaldinho, one of the world’s best known sports figures and a United Nations goodwill ambassador, has launched an institute in Porte Alegre, Brazil, to help disadvantaged children through sport and education, an initiative that shows the way forward in global development, a senior UN official said in welcoming the move.
Matsuura

Binding UN-backed treaty against doping in sport to come into force on 1 February

12 December 2006
A United Nations-backed treaty that is the first binding and universal legal instrument seeking to eliminate doping in sport will enter into force on 1 February following its 30th ratification yesterday, imposing uniform rules, tests and sanctions worldwide and giving fresh emphasis to raising public awareness of the scourge.
Achim Steiner

UN-backed World Cup initiative scores goal for environment

1 December 2006
United Nations-backed efforts to promote eco-friendly sports scored another goal for the environment today with a report showing that this year’s World Cup football in Germany more than compensated for the greenhouse gases it emitted through clean energy schemes both at home and abroad.

UN effort for eco-friendly sports wins gold with new report on 2006 Winter Olympics

30 November 2006
United Nations-backed efforts to promote eco-friendly sports events won another gold medal today with the release of a report showing that the 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Torino, Italy, set new records in the quest for environmental sustainability in mass sports.
Former WFP head Ingram and cricketer Ashley Giles

England cricketers go out to bat for UN against world hunger

9 November 2006
The England and Wales cricket team is now batting and bowling against global hunger in the latest partnership between sports players and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) to draw attention to the plight of the 400 million chronically hungry children around the world.

Annan puts forward 3-year ‘sport for development’ plan; UN official stresses key role

3 November 2006
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today put forward a 3-year Action Plan to incorporate sport into countries’ development programmes as a way of reducing conflict, slashing poverty, promoting gender equality and reducing a host of other social ills. The General Assembly is set to consider the Plan later today.

Senior UN official stresses the role of sport in helping attain global development

13 October 2006
The role of sport in helping attain United Nations global development goals, such as eradicating poverty and fighting disease, will be highlighted throughout this month’s UN Global Youth Leadership Summit that will bring together hundreds of young leaders.
Ronaldinho presented with certificate

Brazilian soccer great Ronaldinho scores role as UN spokesperson for development

11 August 2006
Brazilian soccer star Ronaldinho, one of the world's best known sports figures, agreed today to use his celebrity status to help the United Nations fight poverty when he was appointed UN Spokesperson for Sport for Development and Peace.

On eve of World Cup final, Annan extols football’s ‘universal language’

7 July 2006
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, in Berlin to attend the World Cup final, today compared the state of world football with the state of the world at large, and the most popular sport on Earth came out on top, with its equality, level playing field and transparency affording a shining example.

Autographed England team football lands in the net for UN refugee agency

28 June 2006
World sports stars are playing hard to promote United Nations causes, with England’s World Cup football team autographing a soccer ball for auction to help refugees and Asian cricketers teaming up with the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to boost girls’ education and fight HIV/AIDS.