Football may be the most popular and at the same time quite entertaining sport, however, it can also help save lives. This was confirmed on Wednesday evening (December 9) in the “Georgios Karaiskakis” stadium, in the margins of the UEFA Champions League match between Olympiacos and Arsenal.
Just before the kick off of the match, ECA (European Club Association) presented UNICEF with a 1.3 million Euro cheque for the support of refugee children throughout Europe. The money was collected by withholding 1 Euro from every ticket sold for every club’s first European home match this season. The money collected referred to both UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League matches. This amount is donated to “Save the Children” and UNICEF in order to help deal with the refugee crisis in Europe.
ECA, with 220 members among them Olympiacos and Arsenal, took this initiative in the framework of the “90 MINUTES FOR HOPE” project that started in September. More than 870,000 refugees have arrived in Europe in 2015, with 20% of them being children. The presentation of the cheque took place in the “Georgios Karaiskakis” stadium before the kick-off, among officials from Olympiacos, Arsenal, “Save the Children” and UNICEF.
Olympiacos was represented by Mr Theodoros Giannikos (4th Vice President of FC Olympiacos and member of the ECA) and Arsenal was represented by Mr Ivan Gazidis (CEO of Arsenal and member of the ECA Board). Michel Centenaro (ECA General Secretary) and Ömer Güven (CEO of “Save the Children” Switzerland) were also present. UNICEF was represented by the General Manager of the organisation’s National Committee in Greece Mr Ilias Lymperis.
