The FIFA20 tournament started as a social media experiment, but has grown into a huge fundraising effort.
The social media team at Leyton Orient FC have taken football Twitter by storm over the past few days with their Ultimate QuaranTeam FIFA20 tournament.
With 128 professional football clubs involved, the draw has been made for the first round matches, which will be played from Sunday onwards and streamed live on Twitch.
However, away from the mechanics of the games themselves, the underlying purpose of the tournament has to be applauded.
Leyton Orient have set up a JustGiving page associated with the tournament and hope to raise £50,000.
They say 75% of money raised will go to the EFL, to be distributed among clubs in vital need of financial support in light of the loss of matchday income caused by the coronavirus outbreak.
The other 25% will be split between two worth causes – the EFL’s chosen charity ‘MIND’ and the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fundraiser by WHO.
The totalizer has already struck a whopping £27,777, an impressive 55% of the target amount.
A sizeable chunk of this amount has come from Sky Bet, generously donating £25,000 to the fund (they are not a sponsor of the competition or a partner of the charities involved).
William Hill have also announced that any profits made from the betting markets they have on the competition will be donated to the fundraising effort.
Wow...
— Leyton Orient (@leytonorientfc) March 18, 2020
Need to say a massive thank you to @SkyBet, who have just donated a whopping £25k to our JustGiving page unannounced.
This has taken us up to nearly £28,000 for struggling EFL clubs and @MindCharity / @WHO.
https://t.co/lcQwVobxut#UltimateQuaranTeam pic.twitter.com/kUConaSydI
While the tournament should provide some very welcome fun to fans worldwide, Leyton Orient and the bookies have kick started what could be a valuable piece of charity work for struggling EFL clubs.
Since the initial publication of this article Bet365 are the most recent organisation to pledge a donation to Leyton Orient. Their donation of £25,000 now means that the fundraiser has reached £50,0000 before a ball has even been kicked.
You can read more about the fundraising on the club’s JustGiving and donate to it here.
Oddschecker spokesperson Callum Wilson: “The Ultimate QuaranTeam tournament has provided some much needed light relief since Leyton Orient launched it on Twitter.
“However, the charitable element to the competition has been really refreshing, and it’s pleasing to see bookies and punters get involved.”
