Neymar becomes the latest high-profile football player after Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo to donate to the coronavirus cause. The Paris Saint-Germain forward pledged $1 million to fight the impact of the pandemic in his native Brazil, according to reports.
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The world’s third-highest-paid footballer donated part of the money to the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef), and the rest to a charitable fund in the South American country. Last month, the Brazilian’s PSG teammate Kylian Mbappe, made a donation of an undisclosed amount to a French charity organisation.
The donations come as high-paid footballers face pressure to forego some of their salaries amid the crisis, which has ground the sporting world to a halt and left some clubs across Europe struggling to pay their staff.
Neymar is reported to be confined at his luxury villa situated in Mangaratiba, a resort town outside Rio. But not before the striker last week faced criticism after he was photographed relaxing with a group of friends on a beach volleyball court as most of Brazil’s population is in isolation amid the pandemic.
His press team has since claimed the Brazilian was receiving no visitors and was in quarantine at a “completely isolated” residence with several people who made the trip with him from France. The European country has so far recorded about 93 000 coronavirus cases with an estimated death toll of 8 000.