STOCKHOLM (AP) — Brazilian soccer star Marta has been appointed a U.N. goodwill ambassador in the fight against poverty.
The announcement was made Monday by the United Nations Development Program.
The four-time FIFA world women’s player of the year was emotional when she spoke of her fight against poverty while growing up in Brazil.
In her new role, Marta will focus on the Millennium Development Goals, a set of eight targets aimed at cutting world poverty in half by 2015.
Marta joins a list of other celebrity athletes as a U.N. goodwill ambassador, including Russian tennis star Maria Sharapova and retired French soccer player Zinedine Zidane.
