BEVERLY HILLS, April 02, (THEWILL) – The captain’s armband that Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo flung to the ground in disgust after Portugal were denied an injury-time winner against Serbia had been sold at a charity auction for €64,000 ($75,000) to an anonymous bidder.
As reported by THEWILL, during the qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup, with seconds to go while the score was 2-2 in Belgrade, Ronaldo scored a crucial goal that could have won the game for Portugal before Stefan Mitrovic cleared it out inside the goal line.
Without video technology in use, the goal was not awarded by the central referee.
When Ronaldo protested the decision, he received a yellow card.
And at the final whistle, as he stormed from the pitch, he threw his captain’s armband to the ground in vexation.
But a local firemen, Djordje Vukicevic, who was deployed at the stadium, picked it up and immediately contacted a regional sports channel with the idea of auctioning it for charity.
Vukicevic suggested raising funds required to treat a six-month-old baby, Gavrilo Djurdjevic, who suffers from a rare disease.
The infant has muscular atrophy, a disease which affects about one in 10,000 births, and results in death or the need for permanent ventilation by the age of two in 90 percent of cases.
After the sports channel Sportklub verified the item’s authenticity by checking post-match photos and videos, they teamed up with a charity organisation and put Ronaldo’s armband up for a bidding contest on auctioning website Limundo.com.
The 64,000 euros gathered at the auction represents only a fraction of the amount needed for the baby’s treatment, as his hopes are pinned on the “world’s most expensive drug”, the treatment that costs around €2 million ($2.36 million).
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
