By Ben Nicholson
August 17 – Lionel Messi recently donated 4.5million Argentine pesos, roughly $487,000, to UNICEF during an event called, ‘A Sun for the Kids.’
However, this was not enough to win him the title of ‘Most Charitable Athlete in the World’. DoSomething.org, a non-profit organization that is “[o]ne of the largest global orgs for young people and social change” according to its website, used a three-factor formula to determine the winner.
Taken into account were votes and nominations from the public, the athlete’s influence on social media and suggestions from the website’s committee.
Cristiano Ronaldo was placed at the top of the list. He recently gave $165,000 to a cancer center in Portugal, where his mother was treated, and $80,000 to a ten-year old who needed brain surgery.
The recent confusion regarding whether Ronaldo did or did not donate $5 million to Nepal’s earthquake relief effort potentially aided his list placement because of the positive publicity he received from the alleged giving.
Messi’s public perception, on the other hand, likely suffers from his defense in a pending tax evasion suit in Spain. Messi and his father are likely to face trial for allegedly keeping €4.1million from the authorities, between the years of 2007 and 2009, after his latest appeal was rejected in June, 2015.
Messi’s teammate Neymar did make it on to the list, landing himself a fifth place finish for his ’11 Against Ebola’ work. No other football player made the top twenty.
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