June 8 2005
Beckham here, Vieri there, Litmanen over there
08/06/2005 - The past weeks saw some football-related charity highlights take place for SOS Children's Villages. No less a person than David Beckham handed the Spanish SOS Children's Village association a cheque, FIFA/SOS Children's Villages ambassador Christian Vieri met Italian SOS children and Jari Litmanen and the Finnish national team visited the SOS Children's Village in Tapiola.
Real Madrid star David Beckham accepted an invitation in May from Pearson Education and gave out the awards in the competition "Team up with David Beckham" in Madrid. The competing teams were asked to draft a story in English about effort, solidarity and team spirit. At the awards show, player number 23 of the Real Madrid team also passed on a cheque for SOS Children's Villages Spain, donated by Pearson Education.
Christian Vieri, "FIFA for SOS Children's Villages" ambassador for Italy since 1999, met some 30 children from SOS Children's Villages Trento and Morosolo in Appiano Gentile near Varese, where the training centre of his Club Inter Milan is located.
The young fans' exciting afternoon started out with the giving of autographs and a photo shooting ("Vieri and I"). The children could then attend a training session of the entire Inter team and meet Inter coach Roberto Mancini and other team colleagues of Christian Vieri.
The Finnish national team paid another visit to SOS Children's Village in his home land. This time, it was the SOS Children's Village in Tapiola. On 6 June, Jari Litmanen, who has been FIFA/SOS Children's Villages ambassador for three years now, and his fellow team members, including Mikael Forssell from FC Chelsea, visited the first SOS Children's Village ever built in Finland. Autographs were given and then the players, children and co-workers had a thrilling chat.
SOS Children's Village Tapiola, which has been in existence since the late 1960s, has been partially renovated, and this included the addition of a mini stadium for football, basketball and other activities. This could be financed thanks to donations from UEFA HatTrick, among others.