Manchester City icon Vincent Kompany to donate testimonial proceeds to ending homelessness

Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany is set to make a huge donation to a homeless charity.

Kompany, 32, has been at the Premier League champions since 2008 and to celebrate a decade at the club, will have a testimonial match.

That game is set to be played at the end of the 2018/19 season, while the Belgium international has revealed all proceeds from the match will go to the Homelessness Fund set up by Manchester mayor Andy Burnham.

Kompany, who joined the club from Hamburg, said: “I’ve received much from Manchester.

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“Over the past decade I’ve been lucky to have witnessed and played a part in Manchester City’s rise as a club and a brand. This has also run parallel alongside the rise of a whole region.

“However, with this spectacular rise, comes a very visible downside: more and more people are left out of and have no access to the benefits of the rapid development, often leaving them no choice but to end up on the streets.

“What inspired me so much about this region, about this city, is the positivity of the people that live in it.

“As this city is so powerful compared to so many other cities I have visited in the past, I think we have a responsibility to take everyone along with us on that journey.”

He has also linked up with Burnham to help creating the ‘Tackle4MCR’ scheme – which is aiming to end homelessness by 2020, which will be boosted by the generous pledge by Kompany.

The ambitious scheme also seeks to ensure every rough sleeper has a bed for the upcoming winter.

Burnham, who donates 15% of his salary to the Homelessness Fund, added: “In his famous poem, Tony Walsh told us that ‘some are born here, some drawn here, but all call it home’.

“Those words are personified by Vincent Kompany and his desire, through Tackle4MCR, to give back to this city that he now calls home.”