The Portugal captain’s armband which Cristiano Ronaldo angrily threw on the ground after his goal was incorrectly disallowed in a soccer World Cup qualifier against Serbia recently, has been sold to an unidentified bidder for $75,000 (Rs 55 lakhs) at a charity auction.
The armband with a white letter C was picked up by Djordje Vukicevic, a duty firefighter. It was then put up for a charity auction by Vukicevic and his colleagues from Belgrade’s firefighting brigade to collect money for the treatment of six-month-old boy Gavrilo Djurdjevic from Serbia who is suffering from spinal muscular atrophy.
“Ronaldo was agitated (and) he threw the armband, it fell right next to me,” Vukicevic told Reuters on Thursday.
Many Serbians resort to fundraising and humanitarian auctions to collect money for medical treatments abroad when they cannot get adequate treatment at home.
Vukicevic said he was ready to sell any memorabilia he could collect from players to help Gavrilo’s parents collect 2.5 million euros ($2.94 million) for his treatment, but that the armband was a score.
“The entire crew agreed this (armband) will go for little Gavrilo,” he said.
In the village of Cumic, just outside the city of Kragujevac in central Serbia, Gavrilo’s mother Nevena said that the proceeds from Ronaldo’s armband would be a significant contribution.
“We could not believe that some people who do not even know us... would take the armband, auction it and help our child,’ she said.
On Saturday, the 36-year-old Ronaldo, who plays his club football for Italian champions Juventus, stormed off the pitch and threw down the captain’s armband when he was denied a clear stoppage-time winner in the 2-2 draw in Serbia.
