- Title: UKRAINE: Italian celebrities battle Ukraine sports stars in charity soccer match
- Date: 10th September 2007
- Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) OLEKSANDR AND VITALIY, FOOTBALL FANS SAYING: " We are for Ukraine of course, who else for we could be! Ukraine forward!"
- Embargoed: 25th September 2007 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Ukraine
- Country: Ukraine
- Topics: Sports
- Reuters ID: LVA4S9ONAPU4ESU2O2SXV6VXDE9E
- Story Text: Italian celebrity team takes on with Ukraine sports stars in charity soccer match to raise funds for children's heart hospital.
A soccer team of Italian pop celebrities took on Ukraine's Soviet-era sports stars for a charity football match in Kiev's Dynamo Stadium on Tuesday evening (September 4).
The Ukrainian team won 5-4.
The match was organised by the Andriy Shevchenko Foundation to raise funds towards building a new children's hospital in UKraine. Banners for the charity 'Give Children Your Heart' hung around the stadium.
The Ukrainian president's wife Kateryna Yushenko is patron of the charity.
Prior to the match the Italian team presented a cheque of 50,000 Euro towards the hospital. Organisers also expected to raise funds from ticket sales (tickets cost 5-10 USD each) and by inviting TV viewers to donate money, during the live TV broadcast of the match.
The teams included sports and showbiz stars from both countries.
Andriy Shevchenko captained the home team which boasted Ukrainian sports stars such as Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko (heavyweight boxers and World Champions), Oleg Blohin, Igor Byelanov, (former football stars), and Sergiy Bubka, among others.
Singer Gianni Morandi led the Italian team which included celebrities from the world of sport and showbiz : Marko Simone, Zvonimir Boban, Luca Barbarossa, Nicolo Fabi and Max Binario.
The Italians came to Kiev to play this return match, after a similar event was held in Milan earlier this summer. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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