Israeli Billionaire Fulfills Sick Children’s World Cup Dreams

With a six-figure donation to the Fulfilling Dreams organization, Russian Jewish billionaire Roman Abramovich, who recently became an Israeli citizen, helped a group of ill children attend the World Cup.

By: United with Israel Staff

While Israel isn’t competing in the World Cup this year, Israeli fans aren’t letting that keep them from joining in the global excitement the competition generates.

Among those Israeli fans lucky enough to attend matches of this year’s tournament in Russia is a group of sick children whose wishes were granted by the Fulfilling Dreams organization, which facilitated the visit.

The organization received a major assist for the endeavor from Russian Jewish billionaire Roman Abramovich, who was recently granted Israeli citizenship.

“I’m having the time of my life,” nine-year-old Polina Feldman told CNN. Feldman suffers from cerebral palsy and explained to CNN, “I’ve never been abroad before, and football is my life.”

In addition to being an all-star investor and entrepreneur, Abramovich is also a major league philanthropist who kicked in a six-figure donation to help these ill Israeli kids score a visit to the big matches.

Fulfilling Dreams has a track record of initiatives such as this, taking children with serious illnesses to major soccer events across the globe.

Abramovich is also no rookie in the arena of world-class soccer, serving as the owner of the English Premiere League’s Chelsea Football Club. He reportedly donated NIS 320,000 towards the costs of the Following Dreams trip to the World Cup this year. The remaining cost of the trip was covered by other donors and crowdsourced online.

Previously, Abramovich helped send send 55 children associated with Fulfilling Dreams to the Euro Championship in France in 2016.