European professional footballers work together to fight hunger

The 2012 Campaign "European Professional Football against Hunger", organised by the European Commission, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and the Association for European Professional Football Leagues (EPFL) intends to raise awareness about the urgent need to assist the victims of hunger and to put them back on the path to self-sufficiency. In addition, the funds for the most deprived in the EU has increased by €500 million in 2012.

A joint awareness campaign about the need to fight hunger and malnutrition will be one of the goals of the European professional footballers during this year. The "European Professional Football against Hunger" campaign is jointly organised by the European Commission, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and the Association for European Professional Football Leagues (EPFL).

The campaign which intends to raise awareness about the urgent need to assist the victims of hunger and to put them back on the path to self-sufficiency, will focus on the Sahel region of West Africa (Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger) where the Commission and FAO are working to avert a repeat of the hunger crisis that has been raging in the Horn of Africa. The campaign's symbolic launch counted with the FAO’s Goodwill Ambassador and football star Raúl Gonzalez Blanco.

On the other hand, the final distribution of the 2012 Aid for the Needy Scheme has been voted through the Management Committee and will be published in the Official Journal in the near future after being voted by the Council and the European Parliament. It confirms that a total of €500 million will be available for the scheme this year – with a projected 18-19 million people in 20 Member States expected to benefit.