Brede Hangeland showed that some players are aware that there is life outside of football.
Fulham defender Brede Hangeland has revealed that he raised £45,000 at his wedding to help fund a school for 500 children in Cambodia – but didn’t want anyone to know about it. Until now.
When Hangeland married Celine Trana in Stavanger, Norway back in 2009, he requested each guest donated money to Save the Children instead of buying a wedding present.
The money raised went to the construction of a school in Cambodia.
In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, he said: “There wasn’t anything we needed, so it was a nice thing to do.
“I think there are 500 kids going to school there that wouldn’t be going otherwise. I haven’t been to visit, but definitely that’s on the bucket list.”
Asked why he made the decision, Hangeland added: “I see myself as just an ordinary guy who happens to play football.
‘It’s important in this game to be able to broaden your horizons. You can get caught in this bubble, where football seems like the most important thing in the world.
“It’s useful to remember that we are really privileged, and the problems we have are small in comparison.”
Not words you will hear from many of the current generation of footballers, whose sense of entitlement is dwarfed only by their sense of self-worth.
