Vinicius Jr., a player for Real Madrid, won the Socrates Award at the Ballon d’Or event on Monday for his work outside of football. We will keep hearing him speak out against racism in sports around the world.
Vinicius has been called racist names at LaLiga games for the past two years. People liked the fact that he started a charity that builds schools in poor places and gives money to Brazil’s schools.
He stated, “I will stay strong in the fight against racism.” The British person got the award from the Prince of Monaco. “Talking about racism these days is very sad, but we need to keep fighting so that fewer people suffer.”
I’m so happy to have won this award and be able to help so many Brazilian kids. From where I came, I didn’t have a good chance of getting where I am now. That’s why I like giving kids a chance.
There is only one player from Brazil in the top 10 for this year’s Ballon d’Or. He is 23 years old and made 23 goals in all games for Real Madrid last season.
The forward also took part in a moving tribute to Pele, the great Brazilian football player who died in December of last year at the age of 82.
“Pele is like a god to me, and I’m here today because of him.” Vinius said that because of the great things he left behind, he raised the level of play in Brazil and made people value its stars.
The Vini Jr. Institute, which started in 2020, wants to help public schools in Brazil find new ways to teach and learn by drawing on the popularity of football.
The project says it will have hired more than 500 teachers and helped up to 15 schools and 10,000 kids by the end of 2023.