Georgia’s gamers are in line for an surprising payday at Euro 2024 after a billionaire former prime minister promised to pay out greater than $10 million following their shock win over Portugal.
The Georgian crew can double its cash with one other win over Spain on Sunday within the spherical of 16.
Bidzina Ivanishvili, who based the ruling Georgian Dream social gathering and is now its honorary chairman, initially supplied the fee of 30m Georgian lari ($10.7m) earlier than the event on the situation that Georgia reached the knockout phases.
They did so after objectives from Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Georges Mikautadze gave Georgia a 2-0 win over a Portugal crew led by Cristiano Ronaldo on Wednesday for one of many largest shocks at any European Championship.
Ivanishvili confirmed the bonus in an announcement carried by Imedi TV on Thursday and stated that an equally massive sum can be paid out to the crew if Georgia beat Spain.
The assertion stated Ivanishvili “congratulates the Georgian soccer crew on their best victory.”
Georgia are in a significant worldwide soccer event for the primary time and weren’t broadly anticipated to progress previous the group stage in Germany.
Ivanishvili, 68, is a large soccer fan and has been attending a few of the crew’s video games in Germany. Ivanishvili, who’s estimated to be value $4.9 billion in 2023 by Forbes, additionally has French and Russian passports. Considered one of his sons, Bera, is a well-known rapper in Georgia.
Data from Julien Laurens contributed to this report.