Coronavirus: Portugal donation of half Euro 2020 prize money ‘was Ronaldo’s idea’

Potuguese captain came up with the idea of donating 50% of the money earned for qualifying for Euro 2020 to smaller clubs across the country, reveals teammate Bernardo Silva

Bernardo Silva has revealed that national team captain Cristiano Ronaldo made the suggestion that the Portugal squad make a sizeable donation, as footballers continue to show their charitable side in the face of difficult social health conditions.

Half of the players’s bonuses due for qualifying for Euro 2020 will instead go towards non-professional sides across the country, helping them stay afloat during the period without matches and, therefore, regular income.

The two attackers play a key role in the national set-up and would have formed a major part of the Portugal attack at this summer’s finals, which have now been postponed a year.

Speaking on Instagram, Silva noted Cristiano was the driving force behind the donation and said he was not like Manchester City teammate Kyle Walker – who has been known to jokingly kick people out of the squad WhatsApp group chat with regularity.

“No no no! He’s more calm (than Walker),” Silva told Bleacher Report.

“Actually he was the one a few days ago who gave us the idea to donate our bonus for qualifying for Euro 2020, which is now in 2021.

“He gave us the idea, ‘guys let’s donate part of our bonus’, so I think our national team players we donate 50 per cent of our qualifying bonus.

“He’s very active sending messages—but not kicking people out like Kyle!”

City are second in the Premier League table, trailing Liverpool by 25 points.

Silva is approaching his 50th cap for his national team, while Cristiano Ronaldo needs just one more goal to reach a century of strikes at international level.