Brazil football star, Vinicius Junior, has invited a 13-year-old Sudanese boy, Zaher, who lost both legs in 2024, after a drone strike, to watch a Real Madrid match in Spain.

Vinícius Júnior made the offer during a video call with the boy in Cairo, Egypt, BBC reported on Wednesday.

Vinícius Junior said, “I was made aware of your story. I know how difficult the last few months must have been for you. You are a hard-working black man. I really hope you make good use of your new prosthetic legs, that you return to playing football and that you find happiness. You deserve it. I would like to invite you to attend a Madrid match. We can spend the day together.”

An overwhelmed  Zaher who said Vinícius Júnior was his favourite footballer, immediately left the room and returned wearing a Vinícius Junior football shirt, saying he hoped to get a visa to witness the match. 

The boy’s mother, Habibah, said the offer by the footballer to his son, uplifted her, adding that she felt “like the whole world is cheering Zaher on, wanting him to succeed.”

The footballer recalled that they both met during a war in 2025, in Khartoum, adding that the boy at the time, was one of millions of children whose lives had been upended since the country’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) started fighting in 2023.

During the war, he and his mother were trapped in Khartoum, with food and basic supplies running short and without enough money to flee, prompting them to sell lentils on the streets to survive.

The boy who had little access to specialist treatment, and dreamt of the day he might walk and play football again, is now on two new prosthetic legs and able to kick a ball again, after undergoing surgery and months of rehabilitation in Cairo.

His surgery was followed by months of physiotherapy and training to learn to use his prosthetic legs, while also receiving psychological support to help him process the trauma he had been through.

According to the United Nations Children’s Fund, over 17 million children are in need of humanitarian assistance in Sudan, following a war that killed or maimed at least 4,300 people.