Arsenal and England forward Bukayo Saka has won the 2026 Socrates Award, an honour that recognises his humanitarian work with the BigShoe Medical Charity and his support for communities in need across four continents.
Saka has worked closely with BigShoe to fund 120 life-changing medical operations for underprivileged children in Kano, Nigeria, giving families access to surgical care that many of them could not otherwise afford.
The operations stand out as the centrepiece of a charitable record that now stretches well beyond the pitch and far beyond the borders of his home country.
Read also on New Daily Prime:Saka signs new deal, becomes Arsenal’s top earner
Saka fires warning to critics as Arsenal celebrate Premier League title triumph
Sitting on the same points as Manchester City, Arsenal powers past Everton
The winger has also directed his support towards victims of natural disasters, turning his platform into practical help for people who have lost their homes. In Morocco, Saka provided 50 homes to accommodate 84 families and 89 children affected by the earthquake, giving survivors a safe place to rebuild their lives after the devastation.
In Turkey, he funded accommodation for 26 families displaced by the earthquakes that struck the country, helping them find shelter while their communities recovered.
Saka has further extended his reach across the African continent, where he has supported healthcare and medical screening programmes in Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania and Sierra Leone. He carried out that work alongside his fellow footballer Antonio Rüdiger, and the two players have used their profiles to bring medical services to communities that often struggle to access them.
The award highlights a growing expectation that elite footballers will use their wealth, influence and visibility to improve lives away from the stadium, and Saka has met that expectation with sustained, measurable action rather than occasional gestures.
His contributions, which range from individual surgeries to entire housing projects, show how a single player can deliver help on a large scale when he commits his resources to causes he believes in.
Saka’s recognition also carries particular meaning for Nigerian football and its supporters, because the children who received treatment in Kano now have healthier futures thanks to the funding he and BigShoe provided.
His work in Morocco and Turkey shows that his generosity responds to need wherever it arises, regardless of borders.
Reaction to the news has praised Saka as a player who uses his success to change lives beyond football, and the Socrates Award now places him among the sport’s most respected humanitarian figures.
