AFTER all the nightclubs, champagne and massive wages of top football stars, one player is about to do a remarkable body swerve towards philanthropy.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, the former Manchester United striker known as the “baby-faced assassin”, plans to use the proceeds of a multi-million-pound match in his honour to build 10 schools in southern Africa.

The testimonial match, between United and the Spanish club Espanyol, will take place on Saturday at Old Trafford and will raise about £2m. Traditionally footballers have pocketed the proceeds of their benefit games but Solskjaer, a Norwegian who played for United from 1996 until last year, has other ideas.

The schools will be built in Angola, Malawi and Mozambique under a programme run by Unicef, the worldwide children’s charity for whom Solskjaer has been a goodwill ambassador since 2001. Each one will cost from £20,000 to £200,000, depending on the location. Solskjaer has even said he will use his own funds for the project if he cannot raise enough from his game.

Interest in the match is high, reflecting his popularity among United fans. He is much loved for his unassuming personality - and for scoring the last-minute goal that won the European Cup for United in 1999. Solskjaer, 35, who retired last August and now manages Manchester United’s reserve team, plans to make a one-off return to the pitch himself - if Sir Alex Ferguson, United’s manager, selects him.

Despite lacking the profile of contemporaries such as Ryan Giggs, David Beckham and Roy Keane, Solskjaer is the only player to have a permanent banner displayed in his honour at Old Trafford.

Ferguson said: “One thing about Manchester United fans is they’re quick to recognise heroes. There are over 60,000 tickets sold.”

In Norway the player has long been known for his good works. In 2004 he announced that he was donating his entire earnings from a £70,000-a-year kit deal with Nike to Unicef, as well as £30,000 that he was due to be paid for advertising brunost, a Norwegian cheese.

The money was used to build a school in Eritrea; Solskjaer then fronted a fundraising campaign which succeeded in building another school there.

Solskjaer, who has two sons, Noah, 8, and Elijah, born a few weeks ago, and a daughter, Karna, 5, became involved with children’s charities after being taken to a Unicef camp for abandoned children in Thailand while on tour with Manchester United in 2001. He said that he was “changed for ever” by the experience.

“To be honest, I’d never thought about it before, that as a well-known footballer I could help children through my position,” he said.

Kjersti Flogstad, executive director of Unicef Norway, said: “There are not many people - let alone footballers - who are like Ole. It has been a big joy and a source of motivation to work with him.”

It is unusual for footballers to give the proceeds of testimonial matches to charity. In 1999 the former England player Dennis Wise, then captain of Chelsea, earned about £500,000 from a testimonial against Bologna. Supporters were told to make out cheques to Wise. In May 2004, Henrik Larsson, Celtic’s Swedish striker, raised £1m but had to give half to the tax-man because the payment was written into his contract.

The Solskjaer-Unicef project will provide books, writing materials and sports equipment as well as building schools. Unicef will then hand the long-term running of the schools to local governments.

Solskjaer has said he will carry on the project after his testimonial game and aims to build 20 or 30 schools in the future. Flogstad said: “In Africa almost half the kids who should be in school are not in school. We and Ole want to create safe havens for such kids.”

CHARITY BALLS

After at least 10 years at a single club, players are often rewarded with a testimonial in their honour, as Solskjaer will be.

- Roy Keane’s Manchester United testimonial against Celtic in 2006 raised £2.5m, all for charity
- Alan Shearer, the former England captain, raised £1.6m for causes in the northeast with his Newcastle testimonial in 2006
- Niall Quinn’s Sunderland game against Ireland in 2002 raised more than £1m for children’s charities