Manchester United midfielder Juan Mata pledges to donate 1 per cent of his wages to charity to raise money for underprivileged youngsters around the world
JUAN MATA is donating one per cent of his wages to charity and has called on his fellow professionals to do the same.
On the day when Neymar agreed a world record £198million transfer from Barcelona to PSG, Manchester United's Spanish midfielder has challenged the football world to take a stance.
The Brazilian is expected to earn around £500,000 a week AFTER TAX.
Mata earns around £140,000-a-week at Old Trafford, and by launching the "Common Goal" initiative he hopes other footballers will follow his lead.
Speaking of the programme during a recent visit to the slums in Mumbai, the 29-year-old said: "One of the first lessons I learned in football is that it takes a team to win a game.
“We live by this mantra on the pitch, yet we rarely see it play out in the social impact space, which is dominated by individual initiatives.
"Through Common Goal we’re creating a collaborative way for football to give back to society. I urge my fellow players to get involved.”
He is hoping a "starting XI" of players join him in offering up one per cent of their salary to the charity.
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He added: "We have so many opportunities simply because we play a children’s game.
"We are so lucky to live a dream. Let’s come together and help kids everywhere experience that same light and joy.
"By doing so we can show the wider football industry that Common Goal needs to happen and that it will happen, because it’s right."
Common Goal is the creation of streetfootballworld, an award-winning NGO which supports more than 120 football charities around the world.
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Streetfootballworld CEO Jurgen Griesbeck added: “Players are a great place to start because they’re the stars of the show.
“But this is the first step of a giant global endeavour. Imagine the entire industry uniting in the name of social change.
"Together we can usher in a new era for football and forge a deeper sense of purpose at the heart of the
game.”