La Liga festival raises over €600,000 to help fight coronavirus

A festival involving several Spanish footballers has raised over €600,000 in a bid to prevent the outbreak of Covid-19.

Many La Liga players joined in with La Liga Santander Fest on Saturday evening, combining with singers and other artists to help raise over €625,000.

Spain has been on lockdown since March 14, and remains one of the countries to be worst-affected by the global pandemic. The number of confirmed cases continues to rise, with over 6,000 confirmed to have lost their lives due to the deadly illness.

The festival exceeded many expectations, and is still open to donations, and helped bring in a million masks for health authorities, as well as the money.

Part of the ‘La Liga is played at home campaign’, it was the first festival of its kind to raise funds to purchase the products necessary to combat the virus, where countless famous faces came together to raise awareness of the importance of staying inside.

The charity event brought together athletes such as tennis star Rafael Nadal and footballers from all 20 La Liga clubs, providing four hours of entertainment for people who were staying at home.

Real Madrid’s Sergio Ramos and Lucas Vazquez, Barcelona’s Gerard Pique and Ivan Rakitic, and Atletico Madrid’s Saul Niguez and Koke were all involved. Also taking part were Villarreal midfielder Santi Cazorla, Athletic Bilbao’s Iker Munian, Sevilla winger Jesus Navas and former Spain international Joaquin of Real Betis, among many other names across the division.

Also in Spain, Community of Madrid president Isabel Diaz Ayuso has thanked Manchester United’s David de Gea for his help in fighting the coronavirus pandemic amid reports that the goalkeeper anonymously donated €300,000 to the cause.

Like De Gea, several other footballers across Europe have also been helping out in a bid to fight Covid-19.

Paris Saint-Germain youngster Kylian Mbappe has reached out in his native France by donating to the Abbe Pierre Foundation, a charity that helps people without housing.

And Manchester City midfielder Ilkay Gundogan has helped set up a shopping service in the Heinsberg County in Germany, in a bid to support nursing staff working in an area of the country that has been badly affected by Covid-19.