How athletes are doing their bit during the coronavirus pandemic

The coronavirus pandemic is quite unprecedented in modern times, affecting millions around the globe, with well over a million confirmed cases and almost 75,000 deaths already.

The lockdowns taking place in countries across the planet have affected almost every aspect of every day life and sport is no different, with almost all professional sport on ice. But many of the elite athletes are using their time away from the sport they love to do their bit to help others during these hard times.

Today is International Sports Day - here's how just some of these athletes are playing their part during the Covid-19 crisis.

Soccer

The most popular sport on the planet has been massively affected by the pandemic. The major leagues of the world have been postponed and no one knows when they will be rescheduled to continue with their activities. But teams across the planet are fighting back - with clubs like Real Madrid, Boca Juniors and River Plate offering their stadiums to shelter people or to be used as hospitals or medical supply centres. 

Equally players such as Lionel Messi have donated significant sums of money to various organizations. The Argentinean striker donated one million euros to a hospital clinic in Barcelona, Spain with the money being used to buy more medical equipment. Cristiano Ronaldo and his agent Jorge Mendez are allowing the city of Lisbon to use their hotels as hospitals to treat the people infected with the coronavirus.

Robert Lewandowski also donated one million euros, while Zlatan Ibrahimovic has given more than 100,000 euros to different hospitals. Other players like Sadio Mané, Sergio Ramos, Neymar, Lorenzo Insigne and Andres Iniesta have donated notable amounts to different hospitals to fight Covid-19.

NFL

The National Football League announced that they will donate $35 million, with the money being collected by all the teams and players in the league. Just one notable case: Tom Brady, who donated 10 million meals to the organization Feeding America. Moreover, the New England Patriots donated the use of their private airplane to transport more than 1.2 million masks throughout the nation.

MLB

Major League Baseball was supposed to start their 2020 season towards the end of March that date was postponed. The league is doing its part to fight back - Astros pitcher Justin Verlander said he will donate his salary for the time being to help others. While Bryce Harper and the Arizona Diamondbacks have donated half a million dollars each.

NBA

Philadelphia 76ers player Al Horford donated half-a-million dollars to those affected in Dominican Republic. Former MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo donated 100,000 dollars to Milwaukee Bucks workers.

Luka Doncic, Kevin Love, Stephen Curry, Karl-Anthony Towns and many other players have also donated money to different organizations. While the first NBA player who tested positive to Covid-19, Rudy Gobert donated 500,000 euros - he recovered from the virus some weeks after contracting the disease.

Tennis

Roger Federer distributed one million euros to a number of hospitals in his home country of Switzerland. Meanwhile, his Spanish friend and rival Rafael Nadal has collected over 11 million euros to help others during these times.

MotoGP and Formula 1

MotoGP riders and brothers Alex and Marc Marquez have donated medical equipment to a hospital. In Formula 1, Ferrari has announced that they will donate 10 million euros to support people diagnosed with coronavirus and former F1 driver Fernando Alonso has donated 300,000 masks and 4,000 protection kits to UNICEF.