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Man United's Wayne Rooney to donate £1.2m testimonial cash to charity

Manchester United captain Wayne Rooney will donate the £1.2 million profits from his testimonial to four children's charities, his foundation has announced.

United faced Rooney's former club Everton in August in a sell-out match at Old Trafford to mark his 12 years with his current side.

The Wayne Rooney Foundation said on Friday that all profits from the game would go towards its target of £5m in donations to charities including the NSPCC.

Rooney said: "I'd like to thank all the fans who came to the testimonial and made it such a special night. They've raised a huge amount of money for children who are disadvantaged and it will make a real difference to their lives."

Wayne Rooney Foundation chairman Rob Cotton added: "Wayne has shown an extraordinary drive in setting up the foundation and continues to do so. We're looking forward to the exciting events in 2017 which we hope will help us reach our fundraising goal of £5m.

"In addition to the generosity shown by United and Everton fans, we'd like to thank the foundation partners without whom we could not have raised so much money so far. Principal partner BT broadcast the testimonial and helped fundraising using their MyDonate platform. Facebook enabled Wayne and United to stream the match live whilst Key 103 radio promoted the whole event.

"Think Money Group and Hublot made significant contributions and of course Manchester United Football Club were exemplary hosts to over 60,000 fans at Old Trafford on the night."