Footballing legend Cristiano Ronaldo has become the global face of Save the Children's worldwide campaign to prevent the needless annual deaths of nearly seven million children under the age of five from preventable illnesses like measles and diarrhoea.

During this week's third annual Globe Soccer event in Dubai, Ronaldo took time out to host the Champion for Children Initiative charity auction event on December 28-29 2011, which raised 37,000 Euros to combat infant mortality. Cristiano Ronaldo and fellow footballing stars Del Piero, Messi, Ibrahimovic, Totti, Ronaldo, Casillas, and Lavezzi all donated signed football shirts in support of the auction and sent a video message to help promote the event.

Ronaldo bid 3,500 Euros on his own shirt and the highest bid placed was 10,000 Euros on Messi's shirt.

Ronaldo said:  "I'm so proud to support Save the Children. I'm delighted at the funds raised during tonight's auction and at the support of so many players from across so many different world class teams in making it such a success. This is the most important thing of tonight. I hope it'll go a long way in stopping needless child deaths."

Find out about our Born to Campaign which Ronaldo is supporting.