Italian goalkeeper Buffon's gloves put on sale for earthquake victims in Türkiye

By Can Erozden

ANKARA (AA) - The gloves of Italian veteran goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon were put on sale to help earthquake victims in Türkiye on Monday.

Atalanta defender Merih Demiral said on Twitter that he auctioned the signed gloves of 45-year-old Buffon so that all proceeds from the sale will be donated to Turkish NGO Ahbap.

Buffon spent most of his career at Juventus to win 10 Italian Serie A titles. He is now playing for his boyhood club Parma in Italy.

The ex-Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain goalkeeper helped Italy win the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

Buffon was also regular for the Italian national team, having 176 international caps.

Demiral and Buffon were teammates while they played for Juventus between 2019 and 2021. Both helped the club win the 2020 Italian league title.

It is not the first time that Demiral has launched a charity campaign.

The 24-year-old Turkish player has earlier auctioned the signed jerseys of star players to raise funds to help quake victims.

For the ongoing biddings, people can join it on Twitter or the website, http://deprembagis.teamdemiral.com.

Over 31,000 have so far been killed in two strong earthquakes that jolted southern Türkiye on Feb. 6.

The magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 earthquakes, centered in the Kahramanmaras province, affected more than 13 million people across 10 provinces, including Hatay, Gaziantep, Adiyaman, Malatya, Adana, Diyarbakir, Kilis, Osmaniye and Sanliurfa.

Demiral also thanked Deniz Agnelli, the spouse of former Juventus chair Andrea Agnelli, for her contributions.