Soccer: NZF chase legend Pele

Edison Arantes do Nascimento, or Pele as he is better known, tops a list of famous footballers New Zealand Football want to bring to this country to raise funds for the Christchurch earthquake.

The national body initially wanted to arrange a match between the All Whites and a Fifa All Stars XI but the costs and difficulties in arranging this - and the low relative return from playing the game in New Zealand - soon extinguished these hopes. They then turned their attention to a charity dinner in late July/early August with a celebrity as the main attraction.

NZF have petitioned Fifa for Pele to attend. The Brazilian is widely acknowledged as the best player of any generation (although Maradona has disputed this in a long-running spat) and is a Fifa ambassador.

Other possibilities include Sir Bobby Charlton, Franz Beckenbauer and Zinedine Zidane - who all work for Fifa - and NZF will even explore whether two could come. But they are entirely reliant on Fifa's goodwill.

The world body would meet most of the costs although there would be significant expenses NZF would need to meet to arrange the dinner. Most of any profits would go to the earthquake fund and NZF would look to work with a partner to ensure there was no risk to the national body. The idea is to host one dinner in Auckland and another in Christchurch.

New NZF chief executive Grant McKavanagh said they hope to have something finalised this week but were still unsure who Fifa might put forward.

"We are in negotiations with parties and are trying to figure our the level of support from Fifa," he said. "We haven't had information about who's available or not. It's up to Fifa who they can supply but we want this thing to happen sooner rather than later.

"We have asked them to come back with a list of people who are available but wouldn't it be good if we got the world's best [in Pele] to come?"

As part of today's Christchurch Rise Up telethon, Canterbury Biltong have donated two tickets (Class A seats) to see 2011 Premiership champions Manchester United play at Old Trafford in 2012; a meeting with manager Sir Alex Ferguson; and a United jersey signed by the team. Flights and accommodation are not included.

For further information, go to www.sella.co.nz and click on the Rise Up icon.