Roma donate to refugee initiative 'Football Cares'
Serie A club Roma have donated more than half a million euros to an initiative set up to help refugees across the world.
Roma president Jim Pallotta has launched 'Football Cares', a fund that will raise money for charities like Save the Children and Red Cross as they attempt to providence assistance in the current refugee crisis. Roma have made an initial contribution of 575,000 euros (£417,000).
Shirts worn by Francesco Totti, Edin Dzeko, Miralem Pjanic and Alessandro Florenzi are being auctioned off for the cause and Roma are encouraging other clubs to follow the leads of Fiorentina, Bologna and Torino and become involved with their idea.
"We have been active in Italy for some time on a number refugee aid projects," Pallotta told the club's official website.
"But, after seeing the images coming out of Europe and the Middle East last week, we felt that AS Roma had to do much more, and we welcome that challenge and responsibility.
"We highly commend all clubs that have contributed directly to the effort. Our approach is a bit different, however, in that we want to create a platform to connect the entire football community under the 'Football Cares' banner - we believe we can achieve more together than we can on our own.
"The culture of football is built on rivalry but there is also a massive worldwide opportunity in football for unity to make an even greater impact."