Sports stars united today to show their support in the search for missing Madeleine McCann.

The England cricket team wore yellow ribbons during their Test match against the West Indies at Headingley and Madeleine's picture was displayed on a big screen at the match.

Support: Michael Vaughan wears yellow Madeleine ribbon

It was the latest high-profile attempt to raise awareness internationally of the youngsters disappearance.

Last night, the four-year-old's face was projected on to Marble Arch in London to help mark International Missing Childrens Day.

The McCann's have also released a previously unseen picture of Madeleine playing happily on holiday shortly before she was snatched.

The snap, released today, was taken by a family friend.

It shows the four-year-old, dressed in bright pink trousers and white T-shirt and pink top smiling as she plays in a garden (above).

Meanwhile police in Portugal have been told of an attempt to snatch a girl similar to Madeleine McCann just half an hour from Praia Da Luz, it has emerged.

Tiny three-year-old Carolina Santos, who is blonde with blue eyes, was found being led away from a family cafe near the town of Silves by a man last year.

Her parents described today how they had left Carolina playing at the front of the roadside cafe in Fonte De Louseiron, a village around half an hour from Praia Da Luz on Christmas Day last year.

"We were busy working in the kitchen and came out to find out she wasn't there," Abel Santos, 40, said.

"I searched around for her and saw her some way away on the road with a man I took to be Moroccan.

"We started towards them shouting and Carolina stopped and turned towards us. He disappeared around the bend."

His wife Lina, 28, added: "It was very strange because Carolina is usually very shy and doesn't go with strangers.

"When I asked her what happened she said he told her that he had another little girl for her to play with.

"There was no other girl. I was so scared.

"If we hadn't come out at that moment I don't know what would have happened."

They reported the incident to police at the time but say they were told they could not make a formal complaint as no crime had been committed.

A spokesman for the criminal Policia Judiciaria (PJ) said that attempted abduction was a crime in Portugal and believed that the Guarda Nacional Republicana (GNR) - a separate force - would have filed a report.

Three days ago the couple contacted police again after a Moroccan man threatened to take their daughter during a row at the cafe.

Police said yesterday that they were investigating these incidents, but were not linking them to Madeleine's disappearance, because there were too many dissimilarities.

Meanwhile Madeleine McCann's parents vowed not to lose hope today as International Missing Children's Day is marked around the world.

Madeleine, four, will be the focus of many international events more than three weeks after she was snatched from her parents' holiday apartment in Praia Da Luz on the Algarve.

In a message carried this morning in the Portuguese press, Gerry and Kate McCann identified with parents of missing children in all countries.

"We, like parents of missing children around the world, will not lose hope," they said. In Britain, Mr McCann's brother John will visit the London head office of the National Missing Persons Helpline to highlight its work.

Today Madeleine will be the focus of events across Europe, including in Portugal, where her mother Kate is expected to attend a private lunch with a children's charity.

A message from Mr and Mrs McCann released today says: "We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone throughout Portugal and beyond for the overwhelming love, support and hospitality they have shown us since Madeleine's disappearance.

"For us, this is an important day as children who are missing around the world are rightly remembered.

"We thank the Portuguese police, once again, for their hard work and determination during the investigation to find Madeleine.

"We, like parents of missing children around the world, will not lose hope.

"The only thing that will make us happy is Madeleine's safe return, something every parent will understand."

International Missing Children's Day originates from the disappearance on May 25, 1979, of six-year-old Etan Patz in New York.

Over subsequent years his case was kept in the public eye by various organisations and in 1983 US President Ronald Reagan declared May 25 "Missing Children's Day" in America.

The tradition spread to Canada three years later and has since been adopted around the world including the European Union.

According to the US Department of Justice 797,500 children are reported missing each year. EU figures show that in Italy around 1,850 minors go missing each year, with just over 1,000 in Belgium.

In Britain Home Office estimates show 210,000 people reported missing each year with up to two-thirds under the age of 18.

The figures include runaways and family tug-of-love snatches.

Figures from the National Missing Person's Helpline show that since May 3 when Madeleine was abducted and May 15, 450 young people were reported missing in the UK.

Earlier this week Madeleine's mother Kate spoke of her relief that 11-year-old Paige Hayhoe from Cambridge had been reunited with her family last weekend.

Initiatives across Europe under consideration include a plan by the European Commission for a single telephone number (likely to be 116) to report missing or sexually exploited children.