Athletes who Donate Millions to Fight Against Coronavirus

The fight against coronavirus is proving harder than we ever thought possible. That's why several athletes are donating money to help cope with this global pandemic.

Athletes around the world and from different disciplines are helping by donating millions to fight against coronavirus. Campaigns to raise money, donations and awareness are some of the methods that they choose. We’ll tell you all about it in the following paragraphs.

Who are the athletes that are donating to fight against coronavirus?

Elite athletes are known to earn a lot of money. In cases like this, some take advantage of their situation to show solidarity. Within the world of soccer, we find athletes who are donating a part of their salaries to hospitals every day.

For example, Liverpool player Sadio Mané has given €45,000 to his native Senegal to help with whatever is needed. This African country has few cases of COVID-19 so far. On top of this, his team donated the same amount (in pounds sterling) to food banks in the British city.

In Manchester, the two largest teams -City and United- will make a combined donation of £100,000 (around $115,000) to help people who are affected by the virus in that city.

Chelsea offered its hotel to take in those affected by COVID-19. They’ll use it in case it’s necessary to transfer patients from London hospitals if they don’t have enough capacity.

Solidarity in Italy

Italy is the country that’s been most affected by the coronavirus. But there’s also good news from players who are donating money to help the national healthcare system. For example, Torino player Simone Zaza raised €30,000, and Napoli soccer player Lorenzo Isigne raised €100,000.

Meanwhile, the AC Milan club and establishment have made donations to a foundation called AREU, as Milan is one of the most affected cities in the country. One of its most important players, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, has launched a campaign called, Let’s Kick the Coronavirus. He’s already raised €100,000 through that campaign.

The other Milan team, Inter, has donated 300,000 masks and personal protective products to the Civil Protection for local hospitals. The owners of Juventus, the Agnelli family, also made a donation of 10 million euros to reduce the health emergency that plagues the cities of Piedmont and Turin.

Players who donate in Spain

Continuing with examples of donations in the soccer world, in the Spanish League, Club Almería will distribute €1,200,000 of food for those in need. This includes giving to health authorities and volunteers who are working to help prevent more cases of coronavirus in the country.

Atlético Madrid coach, Diego Simeone, started a campaign on social media to raise funds and donate to the Red Cross. Saúl and Álvaro Morata joined Sergio Busquets (from the Barcelona team) in an initiative called, We’ll Go Out Together to support merchants and small companies that’ll face an economic crisis due to the virus.

Since we’re talking about the Catalan club, it’s worth mentioning that Lionel Messi has decided to donate one million euros. This sum will be divided between two hospitals, one in Barcelona and another in Argentina.

Finally, in the Bundesliga, Bayern Munich players Joshua Kimmich and Leon Goretzka donated one million euros and created a fundraising platform called, We Kick Corona.

More examples of athletes who donated millions to fight against coronavirus

There have been good deeds outside of the soccer world as well. We can mention several NBA players who make donations. Kevin Love of the Cleveland Cavaliers gave $100,000 dollars to the workers of the Quicken Loans Arena stadium -home of the Knights- so they can subsist while there are no games.

Giannis Antetokounmpo did the same with the employees of the Fiserv Forum, the Milwaukee Bucks stadium. Meanwhile, Zion Williamson of the New Orleans Pelicans promised to pay one month’s salary for all workers at the Smoothie King Center Stadium.

Spanish basketball joins tennis with two great athletes: Pau Gasol and Rafael Nadal, who started a campaign for athletes from different disciplines to donate and reach the goal of 11 million euros, which will serve to help more than one million people.

Lastly, Swiss Roger Federer will donate one million Swiss francs to low-income families in his country.

Conclusion

Without a doubt, all of these actions speak of the solidarity and social conscience of the athletes and their peers who are helping the world in this difficult situation. They also send a message of unity and hope to the community.