Sir Alex visits children at Tygerburg Hospital in South Africa, 2006
© UNICEF/South Africa/2006
Sir Alex attends a meeting to celebrate the 'United for UNICEF' partnership at UN headquarters in New York, 2003
© UNICEF/2003/Susan Markisz
Brief biography
Sir Alex Ferguson is manager of Manchester United, one of the most successful English football teams of all time. He was appointed UNICEF UK Ambassador in August 2002.
Since UNICEF and Manchester United's 'United for UNICEF' partnership was launched in 1999, Sir Alex has played an active role in many fundraising and advocacy events.
In July 2001, he took time out of the team's tour of the East Asia to visit a UNICEF-supported centre in Bangkok, which offers protection and support for girls as young as five years old who have been abused or exploited.
Sir Alex pledged his support for our 'Unite for Children, Unite against AIDS' campaign and in October 2005 he went to Geneva to support the launch of the campaign. Sir Alex spoke with considerable passion about the effect of the AIDS pandemic on children, and about his team's links with UNICEF through the United for UNICEF partnership.
In 2007 and 2008, Sir Alex continued his support of UNICEF by attending and speaking at United for UNICEF Gala Dinners held at Old Trafford, as well as by visiting UNICEF projects during the club's tours of Asia and South Africa.
Sir Alex Ferguson says:
"UNICEF's work is crucial and it is only once you have experienced it first hand that you realise how essential it is. Manchester United visited a project in Bangkok helping children as young as seven who had been used for prostitution. If Manchester United and myself can raise awareness of the suffering that children in the world endure, then that can only be beneficial to UNICEF's continual hard work.”
