The sight of Bukayo Saka hobbling down the red carpet at the Ballon d’Or ceremony came as a surprise. Only those closest to him knew why he was there, and the years of toil that led to this moment.
While his England team-mate Harry Kane claimed the night’s top on-pitch prize, Saka – who had suffered a thigh injury just days before against Kane’s Bayern Munich – was at the London Palladium to collect the Socrates Award for his humanitarian work.
Joining a roll of honour that includes previous winners Vinicius Junior, Sadio Mane and Luis Enrique, Saka walked onto the stage, reached into his suit pocket and read a letter from a 14-year-old boy in Rwanda whose eyesight had been restored through his charity work.
Now, Daily Mail Sport can reveal the scale of the Arsenal star’s involvement over the last four years with the BigShoe charity, which funds operations, feeds children and helps with disaster relief across the world. From restoring the eyesight of that 14-year-old in Rwanda to helping provide life-saving procedures for 120 children in Nigeria, Saka’s impact goes far beyond the stadiums he dazzles in.
And this is no passive act of philanthropy. BigShoe president Valerie Fiesser’s phone is often inundated with messages from Saka when the charity is delivering projects in poverty-stricken countries such as Nigeria and Rwanda. Many of the project ideas come from the 25-year-old himself.
‘Bukayo is really, really productive,’ Fiesser tells Daily Mail Sport. ‘He is really pushing how he wants to help. I think for him it is never fast enough to help. Sometimes Bukayo comes up with projects and he says, “Shouldn’t we help here?” So he is really interested in it. It is not like he is just sending money and saying, “OK, nice, we’ll do a project in Nigeria”.
Bukayo Saka was handed the Ballon d’Or Socrates Award for his humanitarian work last month
Saka has worked with BigShoe charity for years – helping those in poverty-stricken countries
In 2023, Saka donated 50 containers to help provide shelter for 255 people impacted by the devastating earthquake in Morocco
‘When we are on the ground, he is texting, “Is everything alright? Is everybody safe? Are all the children safe? Which services do we have? Can I see pictures? Send me pictures, send me pictures, send me pictures!”
BigShoe, a German-based charity founded during the 2006 World Cup, began years ago by funding life-changing surgery for Nourisson, a young girl from Togo born with a cleft lip and palate. The Togo national team, playing at their first World Cup, were based in the city of Wangen im Allgau, which brought the story to prominence in Germany.
The charity is now a worldwide network of football stars, fans and partners, with more than 10,000 children around the globe having benefitted via projects ranging from medical supplies to shelter and food. The organisation has also worked with Antonio Rudiger, Paul Pogba and Saka’s ex-Arsenal team-mates Mesut Ozil and Oleksandr Zinchenko.
Fiesser vividly remembers how Saka first got in touch, in early 2022.
‘He just really randomly wrote us an email,’ she says. ‘He asked us if we can help together in Nigeria after seeing a project of another soccer player. He said, “I want to help children, I want to help people and can we do something”. (It was) really just random.’
That initial conversation quickly developed into a project in late 2022 which funded 120 life-changing medical operations for children in Nigeria. Some of the youngsters were suffering from brain tumours, while others required treatment for hernias.
‘This was an incredible project because it was the first project in Nigeria together with him,’ she says. ‘It was really life-changing for the children because some had a brain tumour, some had hernia problems.’
Saka has since helped support healthcare check-ups for more than 580 children in Rwanda and provide disaster relief after devastating earthquakes in Morocco and Turkey, while his involvement has extended far beyond financial backing.
The charity is now a worldwide network of football stars, fans and partners, with more than 10,000 kids having benefitted via projects ranging from medical supplies to shelter and food
‘We did a disaster relief where we provided homes for the earthquake victims in Morocco and Turkey and he was asking questions like, “Do they have electricity there?”‘ she says.
‘He is really thinking, “Is it worth it, does it make sense to do this, or is it just putting the container and then the people do not have water and they cannot live there?” So he is really, really smart. And yes, I think he is an amazing human.
‘It was never about him. It was always about the children and how we can help. It was never like, “OK, we are talking to one of the best players of the world.” I think he is raised like this. His family made him the man he is now.
‘I think he is raised like this, that you have to be a good human being and to help others and just have an impact in life.’
Saka and his family are directly involved in the projects, identifying communities in need and deciding exactly how support should be delivered. His mother, Adenike, is a key figure.
‘We decide together where we can help, how we can help and then we actually help together,’ Fiesser says. ‘Me and his mother WhatsApp, call regularly. She has played a big part and is a driving force.
‘Three months ago we renovated a school in Rwanda and we provided them with water filters for clean drinking water. We also built girls’ changing rooms, a new soccer pitch and a new library. Bukayo’s family was on the ground, twice.
‘We decided after we saw that the families are really hungry in this area to do food packages. It is our next project in November and December.
‘He (Saka) really wants to make a difference. He wants to change lives.’
While Saka will continue to chase trophies in Arsenal red and England white, his greatest legacy may ultimately be measured in the lives he has changed far beyond the football pitch.
