Dani Olmo confirms secret years-long salary donations to Croatian families

Barcelona and Spain midfielder confirms quiet act of generosity

Barcelona and Spain midfielder Dani Olmo has confirmed he has been quietly donating 2% of his annual salary to a charitable foundation in Croatia for years, a gesture first revealed publicly by his agent Andy Bara.

The 28-year-old, who was born in Catalonia and came through the Espanyol and Barcelona academies before moving to Dinamo Zagreb as a teenager, confirmed the donations ahead of Spain's 2-1 win over Croatia in Split. Speaking in Croatian, he admitted he was surprised the detail had come to light.

"I didn't know Andy would reveal all of that," Olmo said at the pre-match press conference. "When I left, I felt grateful to Croatia and I wanted to repay the favor. We decided to make these donations to the families of Vukovar. I felt that I owed them, and I thought this was the best idea."

Olmo developed a deep connection with Vukovar, a Croatian city on the Danube river, after speaking with families who survived the 87-day siege of the city in 1991 during the Croatian War of Independence, when it was all but reduced to rubble by the Yugoslav People's Army and Serbian paramilitary forces.

Agent lifts the lid on long-standing commitment

It was Andy Bara who first disclosed the arrangement on a podcast. "Since leaving Dinamo Zagreb, Olmo donates 2% of his total annual salary to the Vukovar charitable foundation," Bara said. "These are significant amounts because he earns a large salary, and this has been ongoing since his time at RB Leipzig, and now with FC Barcelona. He does not speak about it publicly, but I want to reveal it because it deserves praise."

The donations are made through Common Goal, the initiative co-founded by former Spain international Juan Mata that asks footballers to pledge a portion of their salary to charitable causes. "Through Common Goal and through football, we were able to help a little," Olmo said.

So strong is Olmo's bond with the country that Croatian fans gave his name an ovation during the pre-match lineup announcements in Split. His ties to Croatian football run deep: he spent five years in Zagreb, making his professional debut at Dinamo before a 2020 switch to RB Leipzig and a return to Barcelona in 2024.

Those connections have long shaped his thinking about the future. On 2 October 2026, both barcablaugranes.com and BBC Sport reported, citing his agent Andy Bara, that Olmo wants to finish his playing career at Dinamo Zagreb — the club where he first arrived as a 16-year-old — with an eye towards eventually starting his managerial career there too.

On the pitch, Olmo has made seven appearances in LaLiga 2026-27 for Barcelona, registering three assists and no goals, according to a FotMob player snapshot fetched on 9 October 2026.