90 Minutes for Mandela was a charity football match held on 18 July 2007 in Cape Town, South Africa to mark the 89th birthday of Nelson Mandela. Football stars past and present, such as Samuel Eto'o and Pelé, took part in the game. The match ended in a 3-3 draw between an African XI and a Rest of the World XI. Africa played in an all-white strip, while the Rest of the World team played in an all-black strip. A few hours before the game, Sepp Blatter granted honorary membership of FIFA to the Makana Football Association, a football league set up by prisoners on Robben Island, where Mandela was imprisoned.
Mandela did not attend the match, he did though send a message via video. Proceeds of the match will go to programmes supported by the Nelson Mandela Foundation. Before the game an official match shirt was presented to Mandela with the number 89 on the reverse.
Read more about 90 Minutes For Mandela: Match Result, Nelson Mandela Farewell Game
Famous quotes containing the words minutes and/or mandela:
“We may say that feelings have two kinds of intensity. One is the intensity of the feeling itself, by which loud sounds are distinguished from faint ones, luminous colors from dark ones, highly chromatic colors from almost neutral tints, etc. The other is the intensity of consciousness that lays hold of the feeling, which makes the ticking of a watch actually heard infinitely more vivid than a cannon shot remembered to have been heard a few minutes ago.”
—Charles Sanders Peirce (1839–1914)
“Together, hand in hand, with that stick of matches, with our necklace, we shall liberate this country.”
—Winnie Mandela (b. 1934)