Juliens Auctions, A California based auction firm has reported that they have auctioned a winners medal of a anonymous french footballer from World Cup 2018 winning team.
The medal reportedly fetched a tidy sum of $71,875.
What do you guys say, who could be it? Why would he have sold it?
Mbappe or Griezmann?
Auction money may be for COVID19 support for France.
Seller in not known yet.
I think if auction was for charity the event would be public and seller wonât be anonymous. A lot of buzz would be created around it for the benefit of player as well as the cause. I guess the auction was for profit and not charity.
Virat Kohli donated some undisclosed amount to PM Relief Fund and other charity as financial support for COVID19.
This could be a similar intended selfless gesture by a French WC2018 footballer.
In the Twitter age, itâs difficult to predict the netizens reaction, it could be very supportive of the playerâs sentiments or it could fire back with trolls & the gesture could have probably been misunderstood. So, keeping the player identity secret might have been a well thought out action.
Another theory could be that the player himself is in financial distress and needs some money. Obviously, one wouldnât want to disclose the name in such a situation.
Sports Illustrated once estimated that 78 percent of NFL players are either bankrupt or under financial stress within 2 years of retirement, 60 percent of NBA players and similar large percentage of MLB players are broke within 5 years of leaving the sport.
Most likely a player who did not get a chance to play in WC. He doesnât feel proud of having the medal. So, he sold the medal for some extra cash.
Point! 
There would be bittersweet feelings for such a player!
Pele has openly sold World Cup medals on the Julienâs auctions site.
The Brazilian legend sold a variety of items on the site back in 2016 in an event titled âPele: The Collectionâ.
Among the items listed were World Cup winners medals from 1958 and 1962, as well as the actual ball Pele used to score his 1,000th career goal.
The two medals sold for $231,481 and $173,827 respectively while the match ball earned $100,308.
Pele explained : âHaving donated a significant portion of my collection to the City of Santos, I have decided to allow fans and collectors to own a piece of my history as wellâ.
âI hope they treasure these artifacts and share my story with their children and generations to come. I will also be donating a portion of the proceeds from the auction to Pequeno Principe, the largest pediatric hospital in Brazil.â
