The News Minute | July 17, 2014 | 12:24 PM IST 

Famous footballer and midfielder of the German football team who recently lifted the World Cup with his team, Mesut Ozil has spent his prize money to pay for the surgeries of 23 poor children in Brazil. 

Ozil says this was a 'personal thank you for the hospitality of the people of Brazil'.

Ozil, who is also the midfielder of the Arsenal Football Club, had paid for the surgeries of 11 kids before the World Cup started. A report in the Daily Mail says that he paid the medical expense for 12 more children to make the figure 23 – the number of players that formed Germany’s winning squad.

Every player in the German team got £240,000 for defeating Argentina at the Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro.

Ozil’s social commitment is also part of the BigShoe project, which started off at the 2006 World Cup. In 2006, money was pooled for the surgery of a child, after which the movement escalated and came to be known as the BigShoe Project, a charity which was a part of all the subsequent World Cups.