09.03.2010 12:02
Messi, new Unicef ambassador
www.fcbarcelona.cat
Lionel Messi will be unveiled on Thursday as a new Unicef worldwide ambassador for goodwill – the first time a Barça player has acquired this distinction.
Lionel Messi will be presented in his new role in the Sala París at the Camp Nou. At 13:30 he will
be giving a press conference in the company of President Joan Laporta and Philip O'Brien, worldwide
director of corporate partnerships for Unicef.
In favour of children’s rights
Messi will be working to benefit the most vulnerable children in the world. He and Unicef
will be involved in a series of activities aimed at supporting children’s rights. Messi thus
joins an extraordinary list of goodwill ambassadors, who include cinema’s Orlando Bloom and
Mia Farrow, and singers Shakira Mebarak and Ricky Martin.
Barça’s first world ambassador
This will be first time that the United Nations Agency has made an ambassador of an FC
Barcelona player. The fame of these people is an important tool that the UN can use to promote its
actions, and for that reason, these personages are often seen visiting the different projects in
person.
Messi has always shown concern for social problems, as reflected by the foundation he set up
himself, and this move represents one further step in the Argentine star’s commitment to
Unicef and its charity work.