UEFA Celebration Match

Manchester United	Europe XI

4	3

Date

13 March 2007

Venue

Old Trafford, Manchester

Referee

Markus Merk (Germany)

Attendance

74,343

The UEFA Celebration Match was a football match played on 13 March 2007 as a celebration of both the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Rome, which laid the foundations for the European Union, and the 50th year of Manchester United's participation in UEFA competitions. Representatives felt it would be more appropriate to celebrate the landmark using a football match rather than another form of celebration. A Europe XI managed by Italian World Cup-winning manager Marcello Lippi played against Manchester United at Old Trafford, Manchester. The match was televised live on BBC Three in the United Kingdom and also streamed live via the BBC Online website. The £1.25 million raised went towards the Manchester United Foundation. The match was officiated by German referee Markus Merk.

The match was first announced by UEFA at a press conference immediately following the derby match between Manchester United and Manchester City on 9 December 2006. The European Union proposed the idea to UEFA as a way of recognising the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome, which was signed on 25 March 1957 and laid the foundations for a united Europe and the European Union itself. A football match was chosen as the showpiece event as the way football brings people of all different nationalities together was viewed as a symbolic representation of how Europe was brought together politically. José Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission, said, "The best of European football will be on show in Manchester next March to mark the 50th anniversary of the creation of the European Union. There is no better way to showcase the European Union at 50 than through Europe's favourite sport that unites Europeans in a unique way, through a passion we all share and a language we all speak."

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