Brazil’s soccer giants — including Neymar, Vinicius Junior and Ronaldinho — are rallying behind a fundraising effort for victims of devastating floods that have killed at least 85 people in the south of the country.
Using their huge social media presence, the stars of Brazil’s most popular sport have joined ranks with local club players, who have used their own jet skis to help people escape waters that have completely inundated entire towns.
Former Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain forward Neymar, 32, on Tuesday shared a video showing his private jet being filled with crates of water bottles and other supplies.
Photo: AFP
“Brazil is going through a delicate moment and helping is NEVER too much,” he wrote in the post shared with his 221 million followers, after endorsing a call for donations led by the Brazilian Football Confederation.
Brazil’s southern state of Rio Grande do Sul was hit by deadly flooding last week after days of heavy rains, forcing more than 150,000 people from their homes, and cutting off many from drinking water and electricity.
The disaster, which the government and experts have linked to climate change, swept away bridges and roads, further complicating humanitarian relief.
Floodwater also filled the stadiums and training facilities of Porto Alegre’s two main soccer clubs, Internacional and Gremio. The typically fierce rivals have united in rescue efforts.
“We are all on the same side. This is our goal,” Uruguayan goalkeeper Sergio Rochet, who plays for Internacional, told local station Radio Gaucha.
He and Ecuadoran teammate Enner Valencia have personally delivered aid supplies to a shelter for displaced people.
Opposing Brazilian goalkeeper Caique, of Gremio, also took dramatic measures to help — using his jet ski to save people in Porto Alegre cut off by the overflowing Guaiba River. His teammate Diego Costa, a Brazilian-born forward, donated four jet skis to help rescue people stranded by floodwaters.
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
After fleeing Sudan when civil war erupted, Al-Hilal captain Mohamed Abdelrahman and his teammates have defied the odds to reach the CAF Champions League quarter-finals. They are today to face title-holders Al-Ahly of Egypt in Cairo, with the return match in the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott, on Tuesday next week. Al-Hilal and biggest domestic rivals Al-Merrikh relocated to Mauritania after a power struggle broke out in April 2023 between the Sudanese army and a paramilitary force. The civil war has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced more than 12 million people, according to the UN. The Democratic Republic of the Congo-born Al-Hilal
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
RSS