Dani Olmo Donates 2% of His Salary Every Year to Vukovar Families.. and Croatian Reporters Gave Him an Ovation

Far from the cameras and the spotlight, one of Barcelona’s stars has kept a human secret for years: every year he sets aside part of his salary and sends it to a city still carrying wounds that have never fully healed, without ever announcing it or talking about it.

When the secret came out by chance, the player himself was surprised, and the words he chose moved the journalists in the press room so much that they applauded him.

The player is Dani Olmo. The Barcelona midfielder donates 2% of his gross annual salary to families in the Croatian city of Vukovar, support he has kept up since leaving Dinamo Zagreb and continued through his time at Leipzig and now at Barcelona, as reported by Spanish newspaper Sport.

The gesture was revealed by his agent, Andy Bara, on the “Inkubator” podcast: “Since he left Dinamo, he has been donating 2% of his gross annual salary to Vukovar,” he said, adding that the amounts are significant because of the player’s high salary.

Olmo did not expect the initiative to become public. He told Croatian reporters: “When I left, I felt I owed Croatia and I wanted to give something back,” adding: “I thought this was the best idea.”

He spoke at a press conference in Split, in the Hajduk Split press room, where the Croatian journalists present gave him an ovation for his commitment to the country.

The initiative is part of the charity work linked to Common Goal, the movement launched in football by Juan Mata that encourages players to give part of their earnings to social projects.

To understand what Olmo’s help means, you have to go back to 1991. Vukovar was one of the cities hit hardest during the war that accompanied the breakup of Yugoslavia. Between August and November of that year, it was besieged for 87 days, and the shelling left much of the city in ruins.

Vukovar fell on November 18, 1991, a date etched into Croatia’s collective memory. Civilians were deported, and the Ovčara massacre followed, in which more than 200 prisoners of war and civilians taken from Vukovar hospital were killed.

Olmo’s support is not limited to Vukovar. He also wanted to help projects in Slavonski Brod, a city he visited four or five years ago and whose reality left a mark on him.

The Spain international keeps a special bond with Croatia, the country he moved to at a very young age, where he did much of his football education and took the first big steps of his professional career. Now, at Barcelona, he keeps giving 2% of his salary every year to social initiatives in the country he considers an essential part of his story.