Paraguay's players sing their national anthem before their Group B World Cup 2006 soccer match against Trinidad and Tobago in Kaiserslautern June 20, 2006. [Reuters]

The players raised part of the money by selling a van donated to the Paraguay team by automaker Fiat, to send the money to Gonzalez, best known for playing forward for Italian league team Vicenza.

The players handed him the money at an emotional ceremony in the Asuncion headquarters of the Paraguayan Football Association (APF) attended by Gonzalez, his wife and their children.

Nelson Cuevas, a forward who plays in the Mexican league, and Oscar Harrison, president of the APF led the ceremony.

"I am very happy that this (donation) will help me pay the costs of a prosthesis, and recovery. It will help me live a more normal life and, God willing, return to work," Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez was severely injured in a December 22 car accident, when he and Argentine player Gerardo Gringhini were on their way to Vicenza airport, to catch a plane home to spend Christmas with their families.

Gringhini suffered a fractured right fibula after the car hit two local buses.