Clubs, players and football fans in Italy have raised millions of euros to help medical workers struggle in treating deadly corona virus patients.
Thursday (3/19) was one of the darkest days for Italy against Covid-19 when the number of deaths rose to 3,405 following China as the highest number of deaths from the disease in one country.
A series of fundraising by clubs, players and club owners has helped to fight the crisis felt at every level of Italian society. For instance, AS Roma club sent 8,000 pairs of protective gloves and 2,000 sanitizer bottles to churches around the Italian capital, Rome. In addition, they also distributed to the people who need it most.
Moreover, not to forget the club from the fashion city, Inter Milan donated 300,000 face masks to the public health department. The players and first team staff at Inter have donated 500,000 euros. Whilst, fundraising carried out by Roma, Milan, Juventus and Fiorentina have each raised more than 420,000 euros.
The fundraising was initially initiated by Lazio which highlighted the importance of people to check their health, convincing residents to stay at home.
There is even one player who is at the forefront of fundraising. Namely, Milan striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic who launched the “Kick the Virus Away” campaign. As a first step, he donated 100,000 euros, and the funds have now exceeded 250,000 euros.
The same was done by SPAL striker Andrea Petagna, Napoli captain Lorenzo Insigne, Torino forward Simone Zaza and Juventus winger Federico Bernardeschi, who have collected or donated more than 430,000 euros. Former Rome and Italy forward, Francesco Totti also participated, donating 15 medical equipment machines for hospitals in Rome.
The biggest contribution comes from the two biggest names in Italy. Former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, owner of Monza C Series club and former president of Milan, made a donation of 10 million euros to the Lombardy region on Tuesday (17/3) to help build an intensive care unit with 400 beds.
The Agnelli family, the owner of the Juventus and Fiat Chrysler Group, equals this amount to support national health services. Then, Juve announces that the parent company of the Exor family is in the process of buying 150 new respirators for Italian hospitals.
This week the number of corona virus cases among Serie A players rose to 13 when Blaise Matuidi (Juventus) and Mattia Zaccagni (Hellas Verona) were declared positive.
