Eddie Izzard explains how Soccer Aid for Unicef has made a difference for children in Djibouti.
Why Soccer
Aid Matters
The game like no other
When we say Soccer Aid for Unicef is like no other game of football, we really mean it. Over the last 10 years, the £24 million raised by Soccer Aid has enabled Unicef to help more children than any other humanitarian organisation.
We’ve provided life-saving food, vaccines, clean water and protection from violence to millions of children around the world.
In Djibouti alone, Soccer Aid’s support has helped protect hundreds of thousands of children from deadly diseases like measles.
How else has Soccer Aid helped Unicef’s work for children?
SOCCER AID'S SUPPORT FOR CHILDREN SAVES LIVES

Since 2006, Soccer Aid has for Unicef raised £24,669,492 to help children grow up happy, healthy and safe.
Soccer Aid funding has contributed to…
2.71 M
VACCINE DOSES
for 100 countries, reaching 40% of the world’s children
13.8 M
PEOPLE
with improved drinking water and 11.3m getting better sanitation
10,500 M
SCHOOLS
have new or upgraded washing facilities, including separate loos for girls and boys
Happy, healthy children like Nasiru
Baby Nasiru from Ethiopia is one of the thousands of children now able to lead a happier and healthier life, thanks to Soccer Aid.
When Nasiru’s mum noticed he was underweight, she took him straight to a nearby Unicef-supported health centre, where he was treated with therapeutic food, vitamin A and deworming tablets that probably saved his life.
Across Ethiopia, many children are still dying from malnutrition. Almost 1 in 3 children’s deaths are caused by factors related to under-nutrition. But thanks to Soccer Aid donations and matched funding from the UK government, Unicef is helping to improve healthcare services and nutrition for more than 1.2 million children like Nasiru in Ethiopia, Myanmar and Zimbabwe.

Nasiru and Ardo, his mother. She says: “Once he was better, the health workers taught me how to prepare food for my child, to help brain development and prevent illness.” Unicef/Lovell/2017
Help more children like Nasiru grow up healthy, happy and safe
Donate nowSoccer Aid has also…

...provided life-saving food and medicine to help treat and prevent malnutrition in 75 countries.

...made sure that more than 9.3 million people have access to safe toilets.

...supported measles elimination and rubella control in 15 countries with over 160 million children.
Life-saving clean water in Nigeria
Clean water is vital for children’s health. In Nigeria, one in three people don’t have access to safe drinking water and almost three-quarters of the country’s population don’t have clean water to wash themselves. Sickness and diarrhoea from dirty water causes thousands of deaths every year.
With help from Soccer Aid, Unicef is helping children get access to safe, clean water that won’t make them sick. We’re working with villages to build boreholes and clean water pumps to keep children healthy, and providing medicine to treat children with diarrhoea.

In Mbaanuga village in Nigeria, children gather round the community water pump to drink safe, clean water, provided with help from Soccer Aid. Unicef/Matas/2016
1.2 MILLION
Thanks to Soccer Aid, Unicef is helping to improve health and nutrition for more than 1.2 million women and children in Ethiopia, Myanmar and Zimbabwe.