Arsenal midfielder Mesut Özil is to ‘support the surgery’ of 23 children in Brazil following his country’s triumph in the tournament. Should we expect more philanthropic gestures from World Cup teams and players?
Mesut Özil is supporting the surgery of 23 children in Brazil, as a “thank you to the hospitality of the people of Brazil”, the player has said in a Facebook post.
Reports that Özil would give his £237,000 bonus for helping Germany win the World Cup final, and the £118,000 for the team’s semi-final win, to the children of Gaza were denied by the player’s representative.
Arsenal & Germany’s Mesut Özil has donated his $600,000 World Cup prize money to the children of #Gaza pic.twitter.com/SJotIf4FIz
— Labour Palestine (@lfpme) July 16, 2014
The Algeria World Cup team will donate their entire World Cup prize fund to Gaza, the Independent reported. The Jordanian football journalist Waleed Abu Nada first reported the announcement on Twitter.
Greece’s national team rejected their World Cup bonuses, instead asking for the money to be used to build a new national training centre.
“We do not want extra bonus, or money. We only play for Greece and its people,” Greek media reported the players as writing. “All we want is for you to support our effort to find land and create a sports centre that will house our national team.”
Fifa’s prize for winning the World Cup is about £20m, with the runner-up receiving around £15m. Federations leave with £5m if they are knocked out of the group stage, as well as the £800,000 tournament participation fee, all of which are shared among players and staff.
Spain received widespread criticism after striking a deal to raise their bonuses to €720,000 (£577,000), the tournament’s highest, if they were to win this year’s World Cup. And Chile were to receive half of the total winnings, amounting to around €550,000 for each player, if they had lifted this year’s trophy.
England, had they made it to the finals and won, would have donated their £350,000 bonuses to charity as they do for all international games.
Reportagem de: 17.07.2014
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http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/jul/17/germany-mesut-ozil-world-cup-money-children-brazil
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