World Cup winner Juan Mata is challenging the general perception of spoiled, rich soccer players and helping to awaken the sport's social conscience through the Common Goal project.

The Manchester United midfielder is encouraging players to follow his example and pledge a minimum of one percent of their wages to a collective fund — and he wants to make it "the biggest football club in the world."

So far 34 footballers, including German World Cup winner Mats Hummels, Italy's Giorgio Chiellini and Japan's Shinji Kagawa plus UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin, have pledged part of their salary to Common Goal, run by NGO streetfootballworld, which has assembled a global network of community organisations.

Mata's one percent helps the India-based OSCAR Foundation, which promotes the value of education through football, a gender equality project in Colombia and also goes into a general pot.

Read the full article about Mata's Common Goal project at SPORT24.