Mesut Ozil donates World Cup winnings so 23 children can have surgery in Brazil as 'personal thank you for the hospitality'



Mesut Ozil uses World Cup winnings so 23 sick children can have surgery

Ozil originally paid for 11 but upped total to honour the number of players it took to make up Germany squad in Brazil

Ozil announced gesture after winning World Cup and says: 'This is my personal thank you for the hospitality of the people of Brazil'

Each Germany player received £240,000 for becoming world champions



Germany beat Argentina 1-0 AET to win the World Cup at the Maracana



Mesut Ozil has made the generous gesture of using his World Cup winnings to pay for 23 sick children to have surgery as a 'personal thank you for the hospitality of the people of Brazil '.

The Arsenal midfielder originally paid for 11 before the tournament in Brazil started, but decided to up the tally to 23 in reference to the number of players that formed winners Germany's squad.

Ozil said: 'Prior to the World Cup, I supported the surgery of 11 sick children. Since the victory in the World Cup is not only due to 11 players but to our whole team, I will now raise the number to 23.

VIDEO Scroll down to watch Mesut Ozil's video of supporters welcoming Germany home



Generous: Mesut Ozil donated his World Cup winnings to pay for 23 sick children to have surgery in Brazil

Upping the total: Ozil originally paid for 11 to have surgery but made it 23 to honour the full Germany squad

Winner: Ozil and Germany won the World Cup with a 1-0 victory over Argentina in the final Sealed with a kiss: Ozil is thought to have won £240,000 in the World Cup win but made the donation Celebration: Germany have been enjoying their World Cup win all week from Rio de Janeiro to Berlin

'This is my personal thank you for the hospitality of the people of Brazil. '

Each Germany player received £240,000 for beating Argentina 1-0 after 120 minutes in the final at the Maracana in Rio de Janeiro.

That was largely down to super substitute, Mario Gotze, who came on and made the difference with the winning goal in the 113th minute.



Ozil's generosity is part of the BigShoe project, whose 'goal is to help children'.

It started at the 2006 World Cup in Germany when money was collected for a child that required surgery, and the project has escalated from there.



The charity were part of the 2010 World Cup in Africa, and the tradition carried to 2014.



Winners: Per Mertesacker (left), Lukas Podolski (centre) and Ozil pose after winning the World Cup final

Charitable: The BigShoe project's 'goal is to help children' and has been going since the 2006 World Cup