Atalanta captain Papu Gomez explains how and why he came up with his ‘The Biggest Game’ charity initiative. ‘Players are so often described as super-rich spoilt brats.’
The Argentina international organised a charity event via Shirtum, a sort of virtual lottery where fans can buy a token worth €5, each token being an entry into the raffle to win a piece of sporting memorabilia.
Atalanta captain Papu Gomez explains how and why he came up with his ‘The Biggest Game’ charity initiative. ‘Players are so often described as super-rich spoilt brats.’
The Argentina international organised a charity event via Shirtum, a sort of virtual lottery where fans can buy a token worth €5, each token being an entry into the raffle to win a piece of sporting memorabilia.
“We provided the jerseys of the greatest players on the planet: Virgil van Dijk, Ivan Rakitic, Paulo Dybala, Luka Modric, Dani Alves and even the tennis player Juan Martin Del Potro, who donated the shoes he wore playing the Wimbledon semi-final against Rafa Nadal,” Gomez told Cronache di Spoglatoio in an Instagram Live chat.
“He told me the grass of the Wimbledon court is still stuck to the soles. I was really stunned by how eager everyone was to help, as so often players are described as super-rich spoilt brats, but people don’t realise how much we help out behind the scenes, keeping it quiet.”
Gomez got out his phonebook to find top stars, but also relied on word of mouth to get the items for this raffle.
“Thanks to Mario Pasalic, we got Modric and Rakitic to join in, so I need to give that boy a gift for that. Marten De Roon helped me out with Van Dijk.”