Brazilian striker Ronaldo and Real clubmate Zinedine Zidane led on the teams at Real Madrid's Santiago Bernabeu stadium for a UN-sponsored match against poverty.
Officials estimated the crowd in the Bernabeu at 65,000. The two teams drew 4-4 in the end after a match played with good humor.
The impressive line-up also included Raul, David Beckham, Luis Figo and Roberto Carlos, and other familiar names from the world of football. Bulgarian Vladimir Manchev (Levante) also took part in the match, but his colleague from Bulgaria's national team and Bayer Leverkusen player Dimitar Berbatov, who was also invited to take part in the game, couldn't participate because of a trauma.
Several retired players including Argentina's Fernando Redondo, Predrag Mijatovic of Serbia-Montenegro, and Croatian Davor Suker also made an appearance.
Among the soccer players were some from other sports. World Formula One champion Michael Schumacher, a keen soccer player, was taking it all very seriously in his efforts to score a goal for Ronaldo's team.
Ronaldo's team was coached by Luiz Felipe Scolari, Mario Zagallo and Carlos Alberto Parreira, all of whom have guided Brazil to World Cup triumphs.
Zidane's side was supervised by Italian national coach Marcello Lippi, and Frenchmen Didier Deschamps and Luis Fernandez.
Tickets for the charity match were free, although spectators were asked to make a donation to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), which promotes anti-poverty projects in developing countries and aims to halve world poverty by 2015.