COVID-19: Portugal donates half of Euro 2020 qualifying prize money to support amateur football

Portugal will be donating half of its prize money for qualifying for the now-postponed Euro 2020 championships to support amateur football amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Portugal will be donating half of its prize money for qualifying for the now-postponed Euro 2020 championships to support amateur football amid the coronavirus pandemic. "In this spirit of camaraderie between professional and non-professional football, we have decided, as a team, to give up part of our qualifying prize for Euro 2020," the senior team said in an official statement.

"We have also decided because we have not forgotten our own paths and all those who have generously helped us to succeed in our careers, that these values will be added to the support fund already created by the FPF aimed mainly at players from clubs in non-professional competitions," it added. All sporting action across the world has come to a halt due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The domestic competition in Portugal has been suspended since March 12. Major European leagues such as Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga have all been postponed indefinitely. Euro 2020 which was slated to take place in June-July this year has been postponed to 2021.

Tokyo Olympics have been also been postponed to next year. This is the first time that the Olympics have ever been postponed. Covid-19 has infected more than 1.9 million people and killed at least 119,000 worldwide, according to Johns Hopkins University.

The World Health Organisation had termed coronavirus as a 'pandemic' on March 11. (ANI)

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)