Football: Ibrahimovic makes his mark with tattoo campaign

Paris Saint-Germain's Swedish forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic celebrates after scoring during the French L1 football match against Caen at the Parc des Princes stadium in Paris on Feb 14, 2015 by showing off tattoos of the names of people who do not
Paris Saint-Germain's Swedish forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic celebrates after scoring during the French L1 football match against Caen at the Parc des Princes stadium in Paris on Feb 14, 2015 by showing off tattoos of the names of people who do not have enough to eat, as part of a campaign by the UN's World Food Programme. -- PHOTO: AFP

(REUTERS) - Recruiting Zlatan Ibrahimovic to draw attention to world hunger paid off for the United Nations World Food Programme when a video of the soccer star, with names of people who do not have enough to eat inked on his torso, went viral on Monday.

After scoring a goal just 72 seconds into a French league match against Caen on Saturday, the Paris St Germain striker stripped off his shirt to reveal the names of 50 hungry people on his torso, kicking off a WFP campaign and earning himself a yellow card in the process.

The UN estimates that 805 million people, one-ninth of the world's population, do not have enough to eat.

The WFP is feeding about 80 million of them in Syria, Iraq, South Sudan, the Central African Republic, the Ebola-hit countries of West Africa and elsewhere.

More than 1.2 million people had seen the video by early afternoon on Monday (European time), and activists hope this new awareness of hunger will bring more donations for aid groups stretched by the increasing number of conflicts round the world.

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