'I've never forgotten' - Manchester United goalkeeper Andre Onana shows his true colours

Manchester United goalkeeper Andre Onana has won FIFPRO's Impact Award for his humanitarian work in Africa.

Club sources have praised Onana's strong character since he signed from Inter Milan and he has a foundation that helps provide free medical care and surgery for the underprivileged.

Onana has won the award for his "inspirational off-pitch endeavours" with the Andre Onana Foundation in communities across Cameroon, and other countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The foundation collaborates with a group of surgeons and medical professionals who provide life-changing surgery and care to hundreds of people, particularly children. Doctors working with Onana’s foundation have performed over 1,200 surgical operations over the last three years.

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Onana reacted to winning the inspirational FIFPRO award and said: “When I passed through Barcelona, Amsterdam and Milan on my way to Manchester United, I had people who helped me on that journey. When I was down, they gave me a hand so that I could stand up.

"I’ve never forgotten the help I received. Because of the people in the past who supported me, I feel I have a responsibility to give back and help others.

“When I started the Andre Onana Foundation, the idea was to help blind children in Cameroon. We received a lot of support and it’s since grown to become an NGO that provides free medical care and surgeries to children and adults from underprivileged communities.

“We bring doctors and surgeons, mostly from Spain, to perform the procedures in Africa. In July this year, we had our fourth surgical campaign where a delegation of Spanish health professionals – from nurses to paediatric surgeons – helped over 350 people in Yaoundé, Cameroon’s capital."

FIFPRO, the global union for professional footballers, will be donating $10,000 to the Andre Onana Foundation to further support their work.

“I want to thank FIFPRO and the Cameroonian player union Synafoc; this big donation is very welcome, and our team already have plans in place to do some nice things for the kids, hopefully in cooperation with UNICEF," said Onana.

"As for the future of the Andre Onana Foundation, we have a lot of things ahead. We’re in conversation with the United Nations to do a collaboration and our main priority going forward is to impact as many people as we can in the world.”

Marcus Rashford is a previous winner of the FIFPRO Impact Award after being recognised in 2020 for his campaign that ensured free school meals for disadvantaged children in the United Kingdom.