Mats Hummels Joins Juan Mata in Pledging 1% of Salary to Charity

Juan Mata's push for players to donate some of their wages to charity is picking up momentum.

Juan Mata's push for players to donate some of their wages to charity is picking up momentum.

Bayern Munich and Germany international defender Mats Hummels joined Mata's "Common Goal" project, which he started a couple of weeks ago. The Manchester United winger pledged to donate 1% of his wages to "high-impact football charities," and Hummels has followed suit.

“As soon as I heard of Common Goal I knew this was a chance for football to improve our world, and I wanted to be part of it,” Hummels said in a statement. “I feel we could be doing more to connect the increasing revenues in football to some kind of deeper purpose. This is what struck me about Common Goal. Through the 1% pledge, we’re building a bridge between football and its social impact around the world.”

Mata and Hummels are donating the portions of their salary to Berlin-based NGO Streetfootballworld, which is a massive network of local charities with the purpose of solving social issues through soccer.

“I don’t actually know Mats personally, so I was pleasantly surprised when he contacted me to talk Common Goal,” Mata said. “He really gets what we’re trying to achieve and is the perfect teammate to have on-board at this early stage. The fact that a World Cup holder—at the peak of his career with one of the biggest clubs on the planet—has chosen to make the pledge shows the power and magic of what we’re doing. The reception to Common Goal has been amazing so far and I have no doubt Mats’ involvement will inspire more players to join.”

Hummels hopes the project will pick up steam now that another player is involved, and he's doing what Mata did–challenging other players to do what they've done.

“I believe that Common Goal can make a real and lasting impact,” he explained. “I’m putting the call out to all my fellow footballers: join Juan and me and help to take the game to the next level.”