My last blog was about people like me who, having had our basic food needs met, are now thinking about the quality of the food we eat.

But this weekend I was reminded that many people go to bed hungry and was struck by a creative idea to help those in need.

More than 200 European football teams played matches across 11 countries. The winner? The world's hungry.

The European teams played to raise awareness of the problem, which affects one in seven people.

The players are donating their own money to help the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization's efforts to fight hunger around the world.

They adopted the number 963 as a symbol of their cause, to draw attention to the 963 million people who go to bed hungry every night.

The FAO's Edgardo Valenzuela told me the idea really took hold when two soccer stars joined him on a field trip.

Italy's Paolo Rossi and Germany's Hans Mueller went to Egypt with Valenzuela to see how the FAO would use their donations to help the needy.

Valenzuela watched the two players come face to face with hunger. Since that visit, the footballers have used their time and celebrity to raise awareness.

FAO's projects focus not on providing rations but on helping the neediest by subsidizing them to grow, sell and buy food.

This way the recipients can sustain themselves without being dependent on others for basic needs. For example, some of the money helps destitute people buy tools and seeds to grow food for their families and sell the surplus to cover other needs.

At the weekend hunger met its match – on the football field at least.