One of the most anticipated soccer events of the summer in the New York area is the All Stars for Hope Charity Match, an event to raise money for schools in impoverished parts of the world. For months now, the match was to feature a team of European-based superstars vs. the New York Red Bulls, at least that is what had been rumored.
As it turns out, the New York Red Bulls will not be taking part in the event after the club failed reach an agreement with organizers the event, scheduled for June 14th at Giants Stadium.
The all-star match, which is set to include such world stars as Cristiano Ronaldo, Thierry Henry, Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard is rumored to now include an unidentified South American club. No other details yet are available on the new opponent for the all-star team.
The Red Bulls released this statement from managing director Erik Stover on Tuesday:
You may or may not have heard about an All Stars for Hope (ASFH) match being played at Giants Stadium and I want to confirm that the Red Bulls will not be playing the ASFH team on June 14. This is a wonderful charity that we hope you will support, but we simply could not work out all of the details for our participation. We were happy to contribute to the cause, but we could not agree with some of the conditions for our participation. Most importantly, we were not granted permission for our Red Bulls Members to receive match tickets as part of our season package. We respect the business model of the ASFH organizers, but we simply could not break our promise to you, our most valued customers.
We remain committed to assisting Mikael Silvestre and ASFH as we believe this charity is really making a difference for underprivileged youth throughout the world. You can do the same by making a donation or purchasing tickets for All Stars for Hope.
Proceeds from the charity event will go toward Mikael Silvestre's School for Hope, an organization that helps build, maintain and staff schools in impoverished parts of the world.
For more information on the match, you can go to the All Stars for Hope website.