Credit: Jean Catuffe/Getty
NEED TO KNOW
- Years before playing in the World Cup, Paraguayan goalkeeper Orlando Gill once had to sell his soccer jersey to help pay for his newborn son’s medical expenses
- After Paraguay’s win over Germany, the person who bought it vowed to return the jersey
- “But you have to beat France,” the buyer said to motivate the sports star ahead of the match-up.
A soccer player who once sold his jersey before fame to pay for his son’s medical expenses may soon be reunited with it.
Orlando Gill, 26, Paraguay’s goalkeeper is now playing in his first FIFA World Cup — and the fan who purchased his kit wants to return it to its rightful owner free of charge.
After Gill’s team defeated Germany, with Paraguay winning 4-3 on penalties following a 1-1 draw on June 29 at Boston Stadium, an old social media post written by Gill’s wife, Melissa Avalos, resurfaced online. The post detailed the couple’s experience when their son Lauti was born with health issues in December 2022. Gill sold his soccer jersey to cover the baby’s medical expenses, Avalos wrote, the BBC and Reuters reported.
Credit: Orlando Gill/Instagram
Avalos also reflected on “the hardest moments of our lives when Lauti was born” in an August 2025 Instagram carousel while praising Gill.
“We had nothing and Orlando was selling his clothes from the club where he played at that time, to be able to pay the expenses 😭 our son He fought for his life and his dad was always there!!” Avalos wrote in Spanish.
One of the pictures she included in her post showed their son as a newborn, lying in what appeared to be a hospital bed.
“I wish the whole world knew what a big heart you have and the desire you have to keep growing!! YOUR SON AND I LOVE YOU AND ARE PROUD OF YOU,” she added later in the caption.
Credit: Fred Kfoury III/Icon Sportswire via Getty
After the match, Pedro Suarez, the person who purchased Gill’s Under-20 jersey for 200,000 guarani ($32.90), tracked him down, per Reuters.
Suarez sent Gill a message saying he would return the item free of charge — under one condition.
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“I told him, ‘Don’t worry about the shirt, I’ll keep it safe for you,'” Suarez told NPY, per Reuters, adding: “‘But you have to beat France.'”
Gill told reporters after the match against Germany that Paraguay’s victory showed that the underdog shouldn’t be counted out early.
“It showed that you shouldn’t speak too soon,” he said, per the Associated Press. “This proves that Paraguay is capable of achieving great things. The opportunity was bound to come sooner or later.”
Paraguay is set to take on France this Saturday, July 4 at Philadelphia Stadium.
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