Saka wins Socrates Award after funding 120 surgeries for children

📰 Arsenal's Bukayo Saka won the Socrates Award at the 2026 Ballon d'Or ceremony for helping fund surgery and treatment for children. 📌 Key points 🏅 Saka received the Socrates Award at the ceremony on 26 October. 🏥 In 2022 he funded 120 surgeries for children in Kano, Nigeria. 🌍 He later supported treatment for 100 more children in Rwanda, Kenya and Tanzania. 🎤 Nigerian singer Burna Boy handed him the trophy. 📝 What happened 🏅 Saka went on stage at the London Palladium on Monday 26 October to collect the Socrates Award. France Football gives it to the player most involved in social and charitable projects, and it is named after Brazil great Socrates, a doctor and pro-democracy campaigner. 🏥 Saka works with his family and the charity BigShoe. According to Gulf News, in 2022 he funded 120 surgeries for children in Kano, Nigeria, where his parents are from, and later supported treatment for 100 more children across Rwanda, Kenya and Tanzania. After the 2023 earthquakes in Turkey he also helped house 26 affected families. 🎙️ On stage Saka said: 'I work a lot with my family and the charity called BigShoe. We try to do our best to help children who don't have the same opportunities or capabilities we have.' Gulf News also told the story of Biringiro, a 14-year-old Rwandan boy whose sight was restored through BigShoe and who now dreams of becoming an English teacher. 🎤 According to Arise News, Nigerian singer Burna Boy presented the trophy, and spoke about his own football project, 'something I started a few years ago, just to support the football culture back home'. 📊 By the numbers • 120 surgeries funded for children in Kano, Nigeria (2022) • 100 more children treated in Rwanda, Kenya and Tanzania • 26 families housed after the 2023 Turkey earthquakes 🔭 Why it matters Away from the race for the Ballon d'Or, Saka's award carried a different kind of weight. On the same stage where Harry Kane won the big prize, another England star was honoured for his work off the pitch. Saka is recovering from a thigh injury, and Arsenal visit Liverpool at Anfield on 1 November.