There’s plenty to love about the World Cup.
Screaming fans, endless parties, and nail-biting soccer games keep billions of viewers coming back every four years. But this year, more players are giving the world reasons to watch their actions off the field too.
French soccer player Kylian Mbappé, one of the highest paid teenagers in the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), is donating his entire World Cup salary to charity.
The total amount of his donation is unclear, but Mbappé’s estimated salary for the World Cup is £17,000 (about $22,000) per game, with a potential bonus of £265,000 (about $348,000) if his team wins the whole tournament.
Where’s all that cash going? To support Preiers de Cordees, an association that organizes sports activities for kids with disabilities. Mbappé’s actions set an example on how to use prosperity for the greater good.
While Mbappé’s efforts are upstanding, they aren’t new to the World Cup.
Since the inception of the England Footballers Foundation (EFF) in 2007 — an organization that supports a variety of different social causes — the England national team’s players have all individually donated their salaries to charity each World Cup too.
Given that the average male soccer player makes well over some of the world’s top paid white-collar workers, and top-tier players like Mbappé and Cristiano Ronaldo make several millions, their donations are especially important as the world continues to find ways to address poverty and inequality in communities around the globe.
Keep up the good work on and off the field!
