International Day of Charity: Celebrating the selfless off-the-pitch work of players

• 5 September is United Nations’ International Day of Charity
  
  
• Footballers around the world have highlighted their philanthropy work on FIFPRO’s platforms
  
  
• FIFPRO profiles five community champions making a difference through their charity work

5 September marks the United Nations’ International Day of Charity, celebrating volunteerism and philanthropy.

Away from the pitch, many footballers around the world have displayed selfless acts of charity to help contribute to a more inclusive and resilient society. Since 2008, FIFPRO has honoured professional footballers who have made a significant contribution to charity through the FIFPRO Merit Awards.

Take a look at five players who have shared their charitable stories with FIFPRO – from supporting underprivileged youths via foundations to having charity clauses in their contract to help those less fortunate.

Cedric Bakambu

France-born DR Congo international Cedric Bakambu won the 2023 FIFPRO Player Impact Award for the remarkable work carried out by his foundation. The Cedric Bakambu Foundation aims to develop people in DR Congo by providing education on literacy, health, new technologies, sport and the country’s history.

The foundation has supported, financed and created various initiatives, including a visceral cancer and endocrine surgery research project in France that supported a hospital in Kinshasa.

Real Betis forward Bakambu said: "It was on my first trip to DR Congo, responding to a call-up to the national team, that the idea of creating a foundation came to me. I was 23 and I was shocked by the appalling living conditions of countless children. I was stunned, physically and morally devastated, by so much misery, by that inescapable begging.

"I remember my thoughts then turned to my parents. What if they hadn’t left their country and moved to France, where I was born: would I too have been one of those kids myself, left to my own devices, with nothing to look forward to, no hope, no reason to believe in the future? I had to do something; I had to find a way of offering those poor lost children the opportunities I had when I was their age."

Jan Vertonghen

Jan Vertonghen, Belgium’s most-capped player with over 150 international appearances, launched the Jan Vertonghen Foundation to enable children in hospitals to play and be creative regardless of their illness.

Since returning to Belgium in the summer of 2022 with current club Anderlecht, Vertonghen spends up to 10 hours a week working with his foundation, helping improve the lives of ill children.

He said: "I try to visit as many hospitals as possible because I notice that this means so much to children. They want to meet me and ask questions about me, the Red Devils, or football in general.

"Of all our activities, I enjoy these visits the most. I have to prepare myself for these moments, as I will meet around 20 to 30 children with illnesses ranging from pneumonia to the worst diseases you can imagine. These visits can be quite emotional, but I try to bring joy to the children and their parents."

Marshall Munetsi

Zimbabwe international Marshall Munetsi donates 10 percent of his earnings to his foundation, which helps provide an education for underprivileged children in Zimbabwe.

Munetsi’s club Stade de Reims introduced a clause in his contract that would see the Ligue 1 side donate a further €100 for every kilometre ran by the 28-year-old during play – thus the more Munetsi runs on the pitch, the more he is raising for underprivileged children. The contract lasts until 2027.

"Currently, the Marshall Munetsi Foundation supports around 60 children in Zimbabwe that otherwise just wouldn’t have access to an education," said Munetsi.

"The core value of our foundation is to give as many underprivileged children as possible access to a better education and ensure that young kids have the freedom to make decisions, not from a point of desperation, but a position of strength."

Taras Stepanenko

Ukraine midfielder and Shakhtar Donetsk captain Taras Stepanenko was nominated for last year’s FIFPRO Player Activism Award for his humanitarian work helping victims of war in his homeland.

As well as visiting wounded soldiers in hospital, Stepanenko has dedicated himself to fundraising and has been heavily involved in Stands of Heroes, a fund which has helped more than 200 families.

Stepanenko said: "In the early days of the war, I donated personal savings and helped collect other funds from the football family to buy medical aid for soldiers’ protection because at that time they didn’t have the same degree of supplies.

"But as the war went on, myself and other footballers started using our platform to send a message to the rest of Europe and the world. We started fundraising in a big way, such as selling matchworn shirts. We also visited injured soldiers in hospitals, we bought equipment that people needed, and we supported families by providing shelter."

Mushaga Bakenga

One-time Norway international Mushaga Bakenga developed a school for an orphanage of more than 300 children in DR Congo known as College Namugunga. His organisation Divided World fundraises and supports the needs of the school.

Today there are around 1,400 children in the school. Nearly 90 students acquired university scholarships, an opportunity that they could not have dreamed of before, and the school is now working to establish programmes with higher education institutions and grants to secure more places for children in the future.

Bakenga said: "We decided to build a school for the orphanage that was there, to help give these children a fairer start in life – give them something to build on, instead of condemning them to the hand that they had been unfairly dealt and had no way to escape.

"Initially, we built classrooms, hired teachers and put the word out that a free education would be available to anyone who wanted it. When 300 children showed up, I realised that this was going to be a much bigger initiative than I had originally thought, and my bank balance alone wasn’t going to cover it. So, instead of limiting the pupils, we expanded with the demand, and founded an organisation called The Divided World that would help us fundraise and support the needs of the school."