Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho helped raise £215,000 for the club’s main charity, United for Unicef, when he donated the watch he was wearing to a fundraising dinner to a charity auction.
All funds raised from the dinner will go towards Unicef’s work in Thailand to support education programmes for children with limited or no access to schooling.
The United for Unicef partnership is the longest running of its kind between a sport organisation and a global children’s organisation and to date has raised over £4 million, helping to change the lives of millions of children worldwide.
One of the lots in the auction was listed as The Mourinho Collection, which included a signed items of clothing.
But, at the last minute, he whipped off the watch he was wearing and added that to the auction.
The watch was a £16,000 Hublot Big Bang Unico Bi-Retrograde Chrono Titanium Ceramic, which sparked furious bidding, driving the price of The Mourinho Collection lot up to £30,000.
Mr Mourinho was clearly delighted to donate the watch to such a good cause. “Charity is one of the amazing things in society and I have always been very supportive of Unicef. You know that the money is going to the right place and is going to make a big difference. Tonight the money is going to help children in Thailand so we know that we are going to contribute to a better future – I think it is difficult to have a better feeling than that,” he said.
