Charity game with world football stars

The charity match organized in Tbilisi held on September 29 ended 6-5 in favour of the World XI team versus GFF XI.

The match was held at Dinamo Arena, with world-renowned footballers taking part.

Francesco Totti scored on his return to the pitch after a layoff.

Former AC Milan footballer Kakha Kaladze (who is running now for Tbilisi Mayor) organised the match between some of his former teammates and other world-class footballers.

The 403,214 GEL in match proceeds will be spent on forest restoration efforts after a string of fires damaged the country’s woodland areas during the summer.

Rivaldo, Luca Toni, Francesco Totti, Dida, Paolo Maldini, Sébastien Frey, Mauro Tassotti, Massimo Oddo, Vincent Candela, Dario SimiC, Pietro Vierchowod, Enrico Annoni, Míchel Salgado, Javier Zanetti, Ibrahim Ba, Massimo Ambrosini, Dino Baggio, Luigi Di Biagio, Marek Jankulovski, Angelo Di Livio, Benito Carbone, Marco Delvecchio will play against Andriy Shevchenko, Christian Abbiati, Sebastiano Rossi, Iván Córdoba, Kafu, Giuseppe Favalli, Alessandro Costacurta, Hernán Crespo, Kevin Kurányi, ZvonimirBoban, Kakha Kaladze, Zura Khizanishvili, Alexandre Amisulashvili, Kakhaber Tskhadadze, Aleksandre Iashvili, Giorgi Kinkladze, Levan Kobiashvili, Gocha Jamarauli, Giorgi Demetradze, Levan Tskhitishvili, Mikheil Kavelashvili were the Georgian and international football players who, united under the "GFF XI” and "World XI” teams and played a friendly match in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi to contribute to the restoration of the Borjomi forests burnt this summer.

Such charity events are always welcomed, however, the expenses of the game remain unknown, and official bodies are silent about the figures. Amidst the pre-election campaign for the post of Tbilisi Mayor, Kaladze has put his efforts to demonstrate his commitment to support solution of environmental and socio-economic problems in the city and outside. Some say one of the aims of organizing the match was to cast a favourable light on the mayoral candidate.