Euro season sees anonymous ex-Premier League player donate match-worn shirts to BHF
Melanie May | 21 June 2024 | News
In the midst of the Euros, an anonymous ex-Premier League player from a London club has donated three match-worn shirts to the British Heart Foundation – now up for auction on the charity’s eBay site.
The shirts were worn by three of the European Championship’s stars: Gareth Bale, Olivier Giroud, and Eden Hazard, and are dated from the 2012/2013 season.
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According to the charity, match-worn football shirts rarely come onto the open market.
Starting at £49.99 per shirt, Giroud’s red shirt is embroidered with the match date, which took place over Remembrance Day weekend. He will be competing with France in the Euros this summer, in his final tournament before retirement.
Gareth Bale helped Wales qualify for the last two European Championships as well as last year’s World Cup. Belgium is competing this summer for the first time without their retired former captain, Eden Hazard.
Martin Longshaw, member of the BHF eBay team, said:
“As a huge football fan, I knew straight away that there was something different about these shirts. I noticed that they weren’t the standard sizing and had adaptations for each player, which you often see with match-worn football shirts. Shirts like these can reach hundreds, so should raise a lot of money for the BHF. A huge thank you to our generous donor for these iconic pieces of sporting history.”
The shirts were listed yesterday, 20 June, on the BHF’s eBay site with bidding closing on Sunday 30 June at 8pm. Bidding had already risen to over £151 for the blue Hazard shirt and £126 for Gareth Bale’s by the morning of 21 June.
About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.