Srdjan Stevanovic via Getty Images
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FOOTBALL – Will a bad-tempered gesture serve a good cause? The captain’s armband thrown out of spite on the Belgrade lawn by Cristiano Ronaldo during qualifying for the 2022 World Cup against Serbia was auctioned on Tuesday March 30 to help a sick child.
One of the stewards present during the match on Saturday picked up the armband that the Portuguese star had just thrown to the ground after being denied a goal. He immediately contacted a regional sports channel with the idea of putting it up for auction.
The man told AFP on condition of anonymity that he wanted to help a six-month-old baby with spinal muscular atrophy and help finance the treatment of this rare disease.
“He (Ronaldo) threw the armband three meters away from me and the idea immediately occurred to us that this (the sale) could be a good opportunity,” he said. “Nobody tried to take the armband back after the match,” he continued. “I realized that we had attracted attention and that it could be a good thing” for little Gavrilo Djurdjevic.
Several thousand euros already for the auctions
The sports channel Sport Klub organized the sale after checking the authenticity of the armband by looking at photos and videos of the meeting, Branislav Jocic, in charge of television’s social networks, told AFP. The channel has contacted a charity to put the Portuguese captain’s armband for sale on the Limundo.com auction site. “I hope we can reach Ronaldo himself (…) in order to help Gavrilo as much as possible,” added Branislav Jocic.
A few hours after its auction, the armband had reached the sum of 350,000 dinars (about 3,000 euros) while the site also invited people to help the child by donating directly to the charity.
Spinal muscular atrophy is a neuromuscular disease that affects approximately one in 10,000 births. Without treatment, muscles weaken, progressing gradually to paralysis or death, frequently before the second birthday. The cost of the treatment is estimated at more than two million euros.
In Serbia, fundraising campaigns to finance expensive healthcare abroad have increased in recent years. It is common to see the faces of children plastered by the side of the road. Millions of euros have been raised in the Balkan country where the average monthly salary is less than 500 euros.
See also on The HuffPost: Zlatan Ibrahimovic breaks down in tears for his return to the selection
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