The 37-year-old Manchester United star, who contracted malaria a year ago, has reportedly helped to fund a project in Sierra Leone that will test 45,000 children for the disease
This man holds a unique role in world football and it could save the planet
There have been plenty of headline-grabbing accomplishments from strikers throughout football’s history – Eric Cantona, Wayne Rooney, Didier Drogba, Robin van Persie – but one record is almost certain to endure long after their careers are over.
Témé Brown, who for almost 10 years played alongside Cristiano Ronaldo at Manchester United, has a whopping 387 goals to his name, most of them when he was holding off an opponent on the pitch.
The 37-year-old scored his first goal in 2001, while on loan at the Dutch club PSV Eindhoven, but it was at Manchester United where he will always be remembered, not only for his goals, but also for the crucial role he played in combating malaria.
Brown contracted the mosquito-borne virus in Sierra Leone a year ago while taking part in United’s player development programme, which offered financial support to football-playing youths across the world.
United said the project has been funded by Brown, who has spent the past nine months working with doctors in Lome, Togo, to donate the specimens they collect to the California-based non-profit organisation Malaria No More.