The £36,000 raised by a JustGiving page for the young German supporter seen crying during their defeat against England at Wembley will be given to charity, it has been revealed.
When England went 2-0 up late into the last-16 game at Euro 2020, the camera picked out a distraught young girl in the crowd, who had to be comforted by her father.
The image was widely shared on social media with many posting abusive, xenophobic comments, leading to a JustGiving page being set up for her - to 'show her not everyone in the UK is horrible'.
Incredibly, a massive £36k was raised by the page and after the family were found, they have now returned a brilliant gesture of their own, turning down the chance to take the cash.
In a statement, the family said: 'In the interests of our daughter and our family we would like to remain private, however we wish to thank everyone for your amazing support.
'Our daughter would like to request your generous donations go to Unicef, knowing that your kindness will do good.'
At the time, many big names - including former England striker and BBC presenter Gary Lineker and ex-Liverpool striker Stan Collymore - strongly condemened the abuse directed at the youngster.
Collymore shared pictures of some of the comments and said: 'No words needed'.
Lineker replied to Collymore's tweet with: 'Absolutely disgusting. Sickening xenophobia.'
It was Newport man Joel Hughes who decided to set up a fundraising page for the girl. His initial target was £500 but that figure has now risen as high as £36k, which led some fans to question why there was a need raise money.
Hughes took to Twitter to explain that he set up the page to 'call out vile social media abuse.'
He said: 'This shouldn't have to be said but here goes... The campaign is NOT just about a little girl crying because her team lost a football match.
'It is about: calling out vile online social media abuse; trying to add a voice of positivity into these increasingly intolerant times; intolerant, divisive times that are actively encouraged by our shambolic gov; show the world and our European friends and neighbours that the highly visible, and highly vocal negative minority in the UK do *not* represent us all. And that there is goodwill left (sic).'
On the fundraising page, Hughes explained how 'an unsavouraby (sic) element of social media piled in on this photo of an upset little girl'.
He added: 'Yes, there are more people affected by this than just this little girl but hey, this is just meant to be a token of goodwill. Yes there are other potential good causes - but I've picked this.
'I'd like to think that the parents of the little girl will spend this on a nice treat for her so that she knows that not everyone from the UK is horrible and that we care.
'No, I don't think this will change the world. But it can do one thing for that little girl.'
421Z2I
506
Gofundme for African children starving to death: £0 raised Gofundme for crying European girl: £36000 raised That’s humanity for you smh
ishti
12
Gofundme for African children starving to death: £0 raised Gofundme for crying European girl: £36000 raised That’s humanity for you smh
This world has multiple sets of rules and principles and is applied depending upon the people concerned. By their own admission USA has indiscriminately bombed civilians in different parts of the world killing hundreds of thousands. They celebrate remembrance day in memory of the soldiers who died while killing those civilians, but don't even acknowledge the pain of the family members of those poor victims. Sad, but true.
abdulrafiiw
11
only for crying