FILE PHOTO: Soccer Football - Premier League - Manchester United v Leicester City - Old Trafford, Manchester, Britain - November 10, 2024 Manchester United's Andre Onana Action Images via Reuters/Lee Smith/File Photo
MANCHESTER, England (Reuters) - Manchester United goalkeeper Andre Onana has won the FIFPRO Impact Award for humanitarian work, for the medical care his foundation provides to underprivileged communities in Cameroon and other countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Doctors have performed more than 1,200 surgical operations over the past three years in collaboration with the 28-year-old's Andre Onana Foundation, which works with medical professionals to provide surgery and care for people, particularly children.
The honour is part of FIFPRO's Annual Merit Awards that recognise players giving back to their communities. The global soccer players' union will donate $10,000 to Onana's foundation.
"When I passed through Barcelona, Amsterdam and Milan on my
way to Manchester United, I had people who helped me on that journey. When I was down, they gave me a hand so that I could stand up," Cameroonian Onana said on FIFPRO's website. "I've never forgotten the help I received.
"Because of the people in the past who supported me, I feel I have a responsibility to give back and help others."
Onana said the plan when he started the foundation was to help blind children in Cameroon, but it has since grown to become an NGO, bringing doctors and surgeons, mainly from Spain, to Africa to perform procedures.
Onana's United teammate Marcus Rashford won the award in 2020 for his campaign to continue free school meals for disadvantaged children in the United Kingdom when schools were closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Finland international Linda Sallstrom won FIFPRO's Player Activism Award for speaking out on human rights issues, such as equality, racism and democracy. In March, she confronted fans in Gothenburg, Sweden who she said made misogynistic slurs against her and her teammates.
Former South Korea goalkeeper Ga-Ae Kang won the Player Voice for leading efforts by Korean footballers and the country's player union KPFA to improve employment conditions for female players and raise the visibility of the Women's K League.
(Reporting by Lori Ewing, editing by Ed Osmond)
