Cristiano Ronaldo’s castaway armband was put on auction to help a child with a rare disease

Cristiano Ronaldo put the captain’s armband into auction on Tuesday to help a disputed child after Portugal controversially refused a late winner over the weekend against Serbia in a World Cup qualifier.

With the score level 2–2 in Belgrade, Ronaldo thought he had scored a significant goal in stoppage time when the ball appeared to cross the goal before Stefan Mitrovic cleared.

But without the technology in use, the target was not awarded.

A rowing Ronaldo was booked for his protest and at the final whistle, he threw his captain’s armband to the ground as soon as he left the pitch.

A staff at the stadium picked it up and immediately approached a regional sports channel with the idea of ​​auctioning it for charity.

The person requesting alimony told AFP that he suggested raising the necessary funds for the treatment of six-month-old baby Gavrilo Djordjevic, who is suffering from a rare disease.

“He (Ronaldo) threw the armband three meters away from me, and the idea immediately told me that this (sale) could be a good opportunity,” the man told AFP by phone.

“I realized we had some attention and could do something good for Gavrilo”, he said.

After sports channel Sportclub confirmed the authenticity of the item by checking post-match photos and videos, they teamed up with a charity organization to put Ronaldo’s armband on the website Limundo.com for bidding.

“I hope we will be able to reach Ronaldo himself … so we can help Gavrilo,” Sportclub’s social media manager Brancislav Josic told AFP.

The infant suffers from spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), which affects about one in 10,000 births, and 90 percent of cases require death or permanent ventilation by the age of two.

His hope is pinned on the one-time gene treatment Zolgensma, also known as the “world’s most expensive drug”, which will cost more than two million euros ($ 2.35 million).

Promoted

Fundraising campaigns to help SMA-afflicted children have recently taken the poor Balkan country by storm, increasing the amount needed for five infants in the past year alone.

A few hours after it was put up for auction on Tuesday afternoon, the armband had reached a price of 360,000 dinars (about 3,000 euros) – donations can also be made direct.