Football Kindness: Money raised for crying Germany fan to go to charity
[July 7, 2021: Alex Pattle]
A man who raised £36,000 for a young Germany fan filmed crying after her team’s Euro 2020 defeat by England has said the money will be donated to charity now that her family has been found.
Joel Hughes, of Caerleon, Newport, launched a fundraiser to "show her not everyone in the UK is horrible".
Some England fans made abusive comments about her after she was pictured crying during Germany's 2-0 defeat at Wembley.
In a statement on the fundraising page, the girl's family said they wanted the money to be donated to Unicef.
“In the interests of our daughter and our family we would like to remain private,” read the family’s comment, “however, we wish to thank everyone for your amazing support.
“Our daughter would like to request your generous donations go to Unicef, knowing that your kindness will do good.”
Hughes said he was “beyond grateful” for all donations to the fundraiser, the initial target of which was £500.
When setting up the appeal last week, he said he set up the fundraiser after seeing "vile abuse of the images of the little girl" online.
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