By Tim Saunders on
Former US soccer player/World Cup champion Mia Hamm and husband Nomar Garciaparra are once again set to host their annual charity soccer match benefiting Children's Hospital Los Angeles and the Mia Hamm Foundation.
The event will be held on Saturday, January 17, at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California. Proceeds from the event benefit bone marrow transplant patients and their families.
Celebrities expected to participate in the match include skateboarding legends Tony Hawk and Ryan Sheckler, U.S. Olympic Gold Medalist Kerri Walsh, NFL great Marcus Allen, actors Zachary Levi and Jimmy Jean Louis, Weezer singer Rivers Cuomo, Good Charlotte's Benji Madden, Anthony Lapaglia, Andrea Bowen, Chris Richardson, Josh Hutchenson, Misty May-Treanor, current and former members of the U.S. men’s and women’s national soccer team, and many more.
Last year’s event raised more than $150,000 for charity, and the organizers are hoping to top that this year.
“Raising money is wonderful,” said Garciaparra. “But to give somebody a chance to save a life, you can’t put a price on that. It was huge. And it speaks volumes about what we can do. We have a booth set up where people can be typed for bone marrow match, and we had 200 people register last year and we actually found an unrelated match.”
General admission tickets for the Celebrity Soccer Challenge are $20 and are on sale through Ticketmaster or directly through the Home Depot Center Box Office.
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