Footballer missed match after receiving phone call—the reason made him player of the match
The idea of perfect timing and being at the right place at the right time works wonders. In some cases, it can also save a life. German striker Lennart Thy happened to be at the right place at the perfect time years ago and made a decision on a whim, FIFPRO revealed. Seven years later, the footballer received a phone call telling him that it was finally time to bring this act to fruition. In 2018, the player was with the Dutch Club VVV Venlo when he received the call that would change the course of events. It was this very act that earned him an award in the most extraordinary manner.
In March 2018, the Dutch club shared a post on Facebook announcing that Thy would not be attending the training or the game that week. It was added that the striker had a “special reason” for making this decision. It was a phone call he received that changed everything he had lined up. The call came from after a 7-year-old act finally started working out its truest cause. When he was still a teenager at the time, Thy, at Werder Bremen, decided to become a stem cell donor on a whim. His team happened to be registering, and he tagged along. Over half a decade passed, but Thy was never a match for anyone in need.
Eventually, the player forgot about it and focused on his career. In 2018, when he was playing for VVV Venlo, he received a phone call saying, “They had identified a patient who might be a match for me.” The footballer was asked to get checked at a hospital in Germany, after which he learned he was a 100 percent match. Despite being “overwhelmed” with the flow of things, he knew he wanted to make a difference. “There was no part of me that said I should not go through with it. At the time, and even now, there is no relationship between the amount of effort that I have to put in, or what it means to me, compared to what it means to be able to save a life,” he revealed.
He was ready to become a donor — with or without the support of his club. He was willing to put everything at stake to make this extraordinary decision. Fortunately, the Dutch Club had his back and gave him approval. “The club has obviously agreed with Thy's request to cooperate with this special journey,” the caption read. The striker went on to donate to a patient with acute leukemia for a stem cell transplant and the treatment was rendered successful. The process was new, a little exhausting but overall “organized and systematic.” The match went on without Thy, but his act was remembered.
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Later that year, the striker won the FIFA Fair Play Award, per FIFA. He also shared a post on Instagram marking his big win. Given to players to participate in fair play and exercise compassion, Thy was the perfect winner for his kindness. The footballer also won the "Player of the match" despite not being present to play. For him, it was not the recognition but rather the opportunity to save a life that spoke volumes. “I was happy about the publicity, because some 20,000 people signed up to become stem cell donors after reading about the story,” Thy remarked. He noted, “It was such a small thing, but for him it was the biggest thing in the world."