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Alphonso Davies, Mahmoud Dahoud, Lucy Bronze and other footballers launched a cash appeal on Tuesday to help the 10 million people who have been forced from their homes during Russia’s month-long invasion of Ukraine.
The fund-raiser from the UN’s refugee and food agencies, called #football4ukraine, aims to help 6.5 million people displaced within Ukraine and 3.9 million others who have fled the country since Moscow's offensive began on February 24.
Three of the athletes — FC Bayern Munich left-back Davies, Borussia Dortmund player Dahoud and Everton FC goalkeeper Asmir Begovic — were once refugees themselves. Dahoud was the first Syrian refugee to play in Germany’s Bundesliga.
Davies, who was born in a Ghanaian refugee camp after his parents fled the civil war in nearby Liberia, said the suffering of ordinary civilians caught up in fighting in Ukraine and other hotspots left him “very sad”.
“The need for support is growing by the day,” Davies said in a statement.
“This is why this appeal is important, to get urgent aid where it is needed, for everyone.”
He was joined in the campaign by Bronze, a Manchester City right-back and Fifa Women's Player of 2020, Ada Hegerberg of Olympique Lyonnais and Manchester United’s Juan Mata, an attacking midfielder who helped Spain win the 2010 World Cup.
“I’m heart-broken by this situation,” said Bronze.
“Millions of people, including many children, have been forced to flee their homes in Ukraine with no idea of what the future holds.”
The athletes urged people to dig into their pockets for the Football for Ukraine Emergency Appeal via the campaign's website. Donations will pay for food, shelter, psychosocial support and other life-saving aid.
The appeal also features music from The Weeknd, a musician and celebrity UN envoy.
It was launched as Ukrainian and Russian negotiators met in Turkey on Tuesday for their first face-to-face meeting in nearly three weeks. Moscow called the talks “constructive” and claimed it was scaling back military operations in northern Ukraine, though the US has warned this is only a redeployment.
David Beasley — head of the World Food Programme, which organised the fund-raiser — said fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces was ravaging the “breadbasket of Europe” and could hit grain exports and raise the risk of hunger globally.
“There cannot be a harvest where it’s raining bombs,” said Mr Beasley.
“This war is a catastrophe for the world.”
