The 80 teams competing in this season's Champions League and Europa League have agreed to donate €1 per ticket from their first home games to charity to help refugees across the world.
Portuguese giants Porto sent UEFA a letter on Friday proposing each of the 32 Champions League clubs give €1 ($1.1) per ticket sold for the first two matchdays amid the ongoing crisis in Europe, and announced on Monday that UEFA president Michel Platini had backed the proposal.
.@UEFAcom supports the initiative "Let's play for the migrants!" http://t.co/YHEzkm8xTm #FCPorto @ChampionsLeague pic.twitter.com/fhkrr0o82k
- FC Porto (@FCPorto) September 7, 2015
Bayern Munich announced via Twitter on Tuesday that the teams have committed to donating cash from each of their first group stage home ties across both competitions to aid charities.
The Bundesliga champions' CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, who was re-elected as chairman of the European Club Association at Tuesday's general assembly in Geneva, hopes that between €2-3 million will be raised, adding that "football also has a responsibility."
The 80 @ChampionsLeague & @EuropaLeague clubs have agreed that €1/ticket for their first home game will be donated to the refugee cause.
- FC Bayern English (@FCBayernEN) September 8, 2015
The overall amount will be donated to a charity organisation. #Rummenigge: "We are expecting €2-3m - football also has a responsibility."
- FC Bayern English (@FCBayernEN) September 8, 2015
Last week, several trains from Hungary carrying mostly Syrian refugees arrived at Munich's central station where they were welcomed by an unprecedented wave of helpfulness by the citizens of the Bavarian capital.
Bayern followed in the footsteps of several other German clubs and fan groups who have extended a warm welcome to refugees amid severe tension in Germany over the treatment of those forced to leave their countries and seek asylum, with a number of fans displaying "Refugees welcome" banners in the stadiums.
Last Thursday the German champions announced that they will offer refugees arriving or already in Germany "financial, material and practical help."
Over the next few weeks Bayern will have "training camps" for refugees, also offering free food as well as German courses and football kits.
The club will also put €1 million towards refugee projects -- chosen by the city government as well as the Bavarian interior minister -- with the funds generated from a friendly match.
On top of that, Bayern players will be accompanied by a German child on one hand and a young refugee on the other when they take to the pitch for their next home game against Augsburg on Sept. 12 "to set a sign for the integration of refugees."
Serie A club Roma donated more than €500,000 on Tuesday to an initiative set up to help refugees across the world.
Roma president Jim Pallotta has launched "Football Cares," a fund that will raise money for charities like Save the Children and Red Cross as they attempt to providence assistance in the current refugee crisis.
Roma have made an initial contribution of €575,000 (£417,000), while shirts worn by Francesco Totti, Edin Dzeko, Miralem Pjanic and Alessandro Florenzi are being auctioned off for the cause with Roma encouraging other clubs to follow the leads of Fiorentina, Bologna and Torino and become involved with their idea.
Porto and St. Pauli are rushing to the aid of the thousands of migrants currently trying to enter Europe.
Porto are asking clubs in the group stage of the lucrative Champions League to donate money from ticket sales to help, while German second-division side St. Pauli have given their club friendly against Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday the motto "Refugees Welcome."
Dortmund coach Thomas Tuchel told reporters after the match: "It was a start to show the refugees that they are welcome here. But that won't be enough."
Tuchel's St. Pauli counterpart Ewald Lienen added: "It's everyone's job to welcome those people here, and to protect them from the mob."