Updated on
Summary The US National Basketball Association and FC Barcelona will help Ronaldo to complete the task.
Led by Brazilian football star Ronaldo, two sports groups, the Inter-American Development Bank and communications giant WPP have said they will raise money to build 18 sports centres in Rios favelas.Creating sports centres in the favelas, thats a great project, said Ronaldo, 34, the UNs goodwill ambassador, who ended his football career in February.Under the slogan, sports as a legacy for social transformation, the group has signed an agreement with the mayor of Rio to raise funds for the sports centres, which will be known as Olympic villages.Ronaldo said that coming from a poor neighbourhood, football allowed him to escape the drug trafficking and violence that surrounded him.Brazil, which will host the World Cup in 2014 and the Olympics in 2016, is in the midst of a great economic boom, and we can take advantage of that by investing in our youth, said Ronaldo.
