Soccer stars to honour Mandela in SA

12 Jul 2007 18:38 - Staff Reporter

Pele and Samuel Eto'o headed the list of international stars on Thursday when Fifa announced the line-ups for a match to honour Nelson Mandela's 89th birthday. More than 50 players have confirmed their participation in the "90 Minutes for Mandela" match on July 18 at Newlands Stadium in Cape Town.

Pele and Samuel Eto’o headed the list of international stars on Thursday when Fifa announced the line-ups for a match to honour Nelson Mandela’s 89th birthday.

More than 50 players have confirmed their participation in the “90 Minutes for Mandela” match on July 18 at Newlands Stadium in Cape Town. It will pit Africa against the rest of the world.

Led by Pele, the Rest of the World team also includes 1987 European player of the year Ruud Gullit of The Netherlands and 1998 World Cup winner Christian Karembeu of France.

The Africa team will feature two members who have won African player of the year three times—Eto’o of Cameroon and Abedi Pele of Ghana—as well as 1995 world player of the year George Weah of Liberia.

The match also has winners of all of the major titles in world soccer, including the World Cup, the European Championship, the African Cup of Nations and the Champions League.

Roy Hodgson and Claude le Roy will coach the Rest of the World side and be opposed by Jean Manga and Jomo Sono.

Proceeds of the match will go to programmes aimed at helping young South Africans and will be coordinated with the Nelson Mandela Foundation.

Fifa organised a similar all-star match in 1999 to honour Mandela when he stepped down as South African president.—Sapa-AP

Line-ups

Africa

Goalkeepers: Ezaki Badou (Morocco), Jacques Songo’o (Cameroon)

Defenders: Owen Augustine Eguavoen (Nigeria), Mark Fish (South Africa), Stephen Keshi (Nigeria), Doctor Khumalo (South Africa), David Obua (Uganda), Stephen Tataw (Cameroon), Okechukwu Uche (Nigeria)

Midfielders: Abedi Pele (Ghana), Daniel Amokachi (Nigeria), Kalusha Bwalya (Zambia), Rabah Madjer (Algeria), Pedro Mantorras (Angola), Phil Masinga (South Africa), Francois Oman Biyik (Cameroon), Dennis Oliech (Nigeria), Samson Siasia (Nigeria)

Forwards: Samuel Eto’o (Cameroon), Hossam Hassan (Egypt), Lomana Lualua (Congo), George Weah (Liberia)

Rest of the World

Goalkeepers: Andoni Zubizarreta (Spain)

Defenders: Zoubaier Baya (Tunisia), Christian Karembeu (France), Gary Mabbutt (England), Patrick Mboma (Cameroon), Santos Muntubile (Congo), Lucas Radebe (South Africa)

Midfielders: Emilio Butragueno (Spain), Youssouf Fofana (France-CÃ´te d;Ivoire), Julen Guerrero (Spain), Ruud Gullit (Netherlands), Kim Joo-sung (South Korea), Leonardo (Brazil), Fernando Redondo (Argentina)

Forwards: Ali Daei (Iran), Stephane Chapuisat (Switzerland), Pele (Brazil), Ivan Zamorano (Chile), Wynton Rufer (New Zealand)