The first-ever Socrates Award presented by France Football went to Sadio Mane in honor of his humanitarian efforts in Senegal, where he hails from.
In recent years, the forward for Bayern Munich, who is the current African Footballer of the Year, has renovated a public hospital, sponsored families and schools in his hometown of Bambali, and given money to the Senegalese National Committee to aid in the fight against the Covid-19 outbreak there.
The Socrates Prize is a humanitarian honor that serves to remind the participants of their unique opportunity to improve the world.
The honor bears the name of the late Brazilian footballer Socrates, who helped create the Corinthians Democracy movement to challenge the country’s then-dominant military regime in the 1980s.
Sadio Mane said, “I’m really happy to be a guest tonight. Sometimes I’m a bit shy, but I’m really happy to do what I can do for my people to make things better.”
