Football club Fortuna Sittard's jerseys will raise money for earthquake victims

Dutch football club Fortuna Sittard will wear jerseys emblazoned with the Giro555 message during its Eredivisie match at FC Emmen on Saturday. The team hopes to draw attention to the Giro555 fundraising campaign for the victims of the earthquakes this week in Turkey and Syria. The game-worn shirts will then be auctioned off, with proceeds going to the aid organizations involved in the campaign

Turkish businessman Isitan Gün is the president of Fortuna. The club is currently in 11th place out of 18 teams in the Eredivisie. Several Turkish players are on the team, including Dogan Erdogan, Oguzhan Özyakup and Burak Yilmaz. "Due to the close ties with the affected area, Fortuna would like to stand for something," said the club.

The logo of main sponsor BetCity normally appears on the front of the Fortuna shirt. The gambling company agreed to give up its spot on the jerseys this week.

A group of 11 aid organizations, including the Dutch branch of the Red Cross, Oxfam Novib, and Unicef, launched the national campaign, Giro555, this week to raise money for those in the affected region. A national action day on their behalf was scheduled for Wednesday.

Go Ahead Eagles also tried to draw attention to the victims in Turkey and Syria. In a video, the football players from the Deventer-based Eredivisie club asked their fans to make donations. They also auctioned off their shirts from the Thursday evening Dutch Cup match against ADO Den Haag. They also asked people to donate directly to Stichting Geef Aan Eachaar.