Cristiano Ronaldo and his Portugal teammates have donated half of their bonus for qualifying for the Euro 2020 to help amateur football in the the country after they were asked to end the season prematurely.
The Portuguese football federation said the money would go towards a fund that it hopes will reach 4.7 million euros to help amateur clubs survive the crisis.
The federation last week decided to end the amateur football season with immediate effect, declaring the season null and void without champions, promotion or relegation.
No decision has been taken on resuming professional football but the president of the Portuguese league, Pedro Proenca said he was determined the season should be completed.
“It is fundamental that the championships end because it would allow some sort of normality to be restored and we could prepare for next season knowing who has qualified for international competitions, who the champions are and who is relegated.”
Since Euro 2020 has been suspended for a year, it’s only fitting for the players to give the money to the one needed the most at the moment.
On the other hand, Bernardo Silva has revealed that it was Cristiano Ronaldo who came up with the idea of the Portugal squad donating 50% of their bonuses to help amateur clubs survive during the coronavirus crisis.
“Actually he was the one, two or three days ago, that gave us the idea to donate our bonus.
“So we qualified to the 2020 Euros, which now is in 2021.
“And he gave us the idea let’s donate part of our bonus, so I think our national team, our players will donate 50 percent of our qualifying bonus.”