2023 - Fußball trifft Kultur – LitCam gemeinnützige Gesellschaft mbH

Second network meeting in 2022

Over 40 teachers and trainers from the 35 “Fußball trifft Kultur” locations across Germany took part in the second network meeting of 2022 on November 18 and 19, 2022. In addition to the opportunity to exchange ideas, the meeting offered various workshops and training opportunities.

The network meeting plays a central role in the implementation of the “Fußball trifft Kultur” program. It is both a platform and a place of exchange for the experiences of our FtKers from various locations in Germany and offers the opportunity to network and learn together.

At the second network meeting, innovations were once again presented, discussions held, experiences gathered and tips exchanged. How things are going in the individual program groups, what developments can be observed among the children, where there is a need for action – through a lively exchange, all participants were able to take a lot of information back to their programs.

The main topics on Friday were the workshops “Conflict Resolution” and “Cyberbullying”, which offered our teachers and trainers strategies for dealing with conflicts within the program groups. This was followed by a focus on sustainability in the partner clubs, the main topic for the coming six months. Stephan Bandholz from 1. FSV Mainz 05 gave a keynote speech in which he explained how Mainz 05 is approaching the major topic of sustainability.

The second day of the network meeting focused entirely on exchange and cooperation. Successes, challenges and ideas were exchanged and specific topics worked on in various discussion rounds. The focus was on child protection. Our child protection concept was discussed with all participants and a code of conduct for teachers and trainers was drawn up. The presentation of best practice examples from the programs themselves was particularly valuable, allowing teachers and trainers to learn from and with each other.

We would like to thank all participants for their great commitment and the exciting exchange – we look forward to the next time.

“Wir für morgen” award: 17,500 euros for non-profit organization “LitCam”

We receive 17,500 euros in funding with “Fußball trifft Kultur” as part of Union Investment’s “Wir für morgen” charity initiative.

The charity initiative “Wir für morgen” (We for tomorrow) by the fund management company Union Investment focuses on charitable associations and foundations from all over Germany that are committed to social justice, more equal opportunities and better environmental awareness.
“When we announced the awards publicly for the first time in the spring, we would never have dared to dream that over 230 associations and other organizations would apply for the prizes in the environmental, social and educational categories,” said patron and CEO Hans Joachim Reinke.
Under his chairmanship, the jury team, consisting of actor and documentary filmmaker Hannes Jaenicke (Environment category), former professional footballer and foundation founder Neven Subotic (Social category), “Network Opportunities” founder Natalya Nepomnyashcha (Education category) and a youth jury, selected a total of nine winning projects.
The award ceremony took place on November 20 at the Städel in Frankfurt.

In the education category, we received 17,500 euros in funding from Frankfurt.
With the “Fußball trifft Kultur” project, we are promoting educational equality and equal opportunities nationwide through language and reading promotion.
We specifically use the power of soccer to promote children’s communicative and linguistic engagement.
We would like to use the prize money to support a selected “Fußball trifft Kultur” location in Germany.

Final tournament of “Fußball trifft Kultur” with over 500 children from 23 cities

Abschlussturnier 2023 Fußball trifft Kultur

Duisburg, 09.06.2023 – Team spirit, fun and fair play – that was the motto of the “Fußball trifft Kultur” (FtK) final tournament in 2023. Around 500 participants in the integrative education program “Fußball trifft Kultur” travelled to Duisburg from all over Germany to compete for the coveted trophies in the U10 and U14 age groups.

The 13th FtK final tournament was more than just a sporting showdown. The event is the annual highlight of the educational program, which offers the more than 700 participants nationwide not only soccer training but also skills training, in particular language development. Training and learning takes place twice a week in two halves at 23 locations across Germany. The special feature: The program takes place in cooperation with professional clubs in the Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2. They provide a coach for the weekly program and promote the motivation of the participating children through their charisma and unique events such as children’s press conferences, stadium tours or match visits. In this way, “Fußball trifft Kultur” reaches children from educationally disadvantaged social backgrounds in particular, who often feel less addressed by regular school lessons and therefore benefit particularly from the additional language, exercise and cultural support.

The final tournament in Duisburg is also representative of the integrative nature of the educational program. United by the motivating power of soccer, children from a wide range of countries came together for a big soccer festival in which they were able to represent the colors of their respective partner clubs. The participants not only demonstrated the progress they have made in soccer over the past year, but also experienced solidarity, fair play and teamwork at first hand. The groups from An der Glinder Au elementary school (U10) and Michael-Ende-Schule (U14) were particularly pleased to represent FC St. Pauli and Eintracht Frankfurt, winning the coveted challenge cup and raising it to the sky in Duisburg.

The trophies were presented by Franziska Fey (CEO of the DFL Foundation), Nikolai Hirt (Project Manager Ruhr Games) and Florian Gärtner (Administrative Director of the MSV Duisburg youth training center), among others. Franziska Fey, who has been supporting FtK with the DFL Foundation as a nationwide partner since 2012, emphasized the central role of the tournament in the project’s success: “The final FtK tournament is the big highlight of the programme for everyone. It motivates the children throughout the school year to improve their soccer skills and to participate in the skills training with great perseverance. Here they can experience and prove themselves as a team. It’s great to see how enthusiastic and committed the children, teachers and helpers were at the tournament.”

The Ruhr Regional Association supported the final FtK tournament for the second time and made it possible to hold the event as part of the Ruhr Games. Nikolai Hirt was delighted with the success of the tournament: “Fußball trifft Kultur” combines the important topics of education, integration and exercise in a particularly motivating way. At today’s final tournament, we were able to experience at first hand how the children demonstrate fair play, team spirit and a sense of community. We are therefore delighted to be able to support this fantastic event through our cooperation with the Ruhr Games.”

MSV Duisburg has been supporting the educational program since 2015 with a program location at the Herbert Grillo Comprehensive School in Duisburg and hosted the FtK final tournament for the second time at its youth academy: “We were delighted to host the FtK final tournament again this year. It was incredibly nice to see how enthusiastic the children were about the tournament. It’s moments like these that make you realize how valuable social programs like “Fußball trifft Kultur” are for the children involved. We are therefore all the more pleased to support “Fußball trifft Kultur” not only as part of the tournament, but also with our program location at the Herbert Grillo Comprehensive School in Duisburg Marxloh.”

Karin Plötz, Director of LitCam gGmbH, which has been implementing the integrative education program since 2007, also drew a positive conclusion: “It was great to see the great commitment of the children who took part in the tournament – despite the heat. We have two great days of exciting and high-class matches behind us. It was particularly nice to see that, despite all the sporting ambition, fair play and team spirit were the focus and that even less successful teams had a lot of fun. This is also reflected in the feedback from the participants, who are already looking forward to the next tournament.”

The final placings:

U10

1st place: Schule An der Glinder Au, Hamburg
2.2nd place: Karmeliterschule, Frankfurt
3.Place: Goethe-Grundschule, Mainz
4. 4thplace: Regenbogenschule II, Gelsenkirchen

U14

1st place: Michael-Ende-Schule, Frankfurt
2.Place: Bernhard-Adelung-Schule/Ernst-Elias-Niebergallschule, Darmstadt
3.Place: Anne-Frank-Gesamtschule II, Dortmund
4. 4thplace: Herbert-Grillo-Gesamtschule, Duisburg

Schlappekicker supports “Fußball trifft Kultur”

Schlappekicker unterstützt "Fußball trifft Kultur"

World champion Nia Künzer presented the Albert Schweitzer School with a donation check worth €2000 as part of the Frankfurter Rundschau’s “Schlappekicker” campaign.

On this day, everything was a little different than usual for the FtK kids at the Albert Schweitzer School. Soccer training yes, but in addition to their soccer coach Kai Klingenhöfer, there was also a woman who once shot Germany to the World Cup title, when they themselves were far from being born. The boys certainly had a lot of fun, it was a great pleasure for them to play together with Nia.

The former footballer herself was not too shy to get involved in a little match with the boys. Here at her old place of work, it was she herself who launched the first all-girls team at “Fußball trifft Kultur” in 2011.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone involved in the “Schlappekicker” campaign and the Frankfurter Rundschau newspaper for their support of our integrative education program.

Jürgen Streicher from the Frankfurter Rundschau writes: “Erjon, Karl, Jonathan and all the other talented players from many different countries already have a lot to offer at the age of just under ten. They fight with full commitment, but fair play is the top priority. The boys manage this well and get on well with coach Kai Klingelhöfer. He wears the eagle on his chest and Eintracht on his back, which is always a positive incentive.”

Click here for the full article.

Sustainable stadium tour at BORUSSIA-PARK

Nachhaltige Stadionführung im BORUSSIA-PARK

The third and fourth graders at Holt Catholic Primary School in Mönchengladbach experienced a sustainable stadium tour at BORUSSIA-PARK.

Sustainability manager Christina Rütten and CSR department head Markus Frieben received this year’s “Fußball trifft Kultur” class.

From the pitch heating to the sweets during the half-time break to the journey by car – the children were often surprised at how much_CO2is consumed during a Bundesliga match at BORUSSIA-PARK and what the reasons for this are. After the tour, the third and fourth graders were also introduced to the emission factors on match day as part of a game and shown ways to save energy. Rütten presented the children with a number of measures that can make a visit to the stadium as climate-friendly as possible.

We are confident that we were able to sensitize the children to the need for greater climate awareness by using examples that are accessible and easy to understand. The children showed great interest in the main topics and contributed numerous ideas on their own initiative.

At the end, the 22 pupils were delighted when each of them received a Borussia shirt as a souvenir, which the class will wear at the “Fußball trifft Kultur” final tournament in Duisburg.

Hello again Frankfurt – Our FtK network meeting

Hello again Frankfurt – Unser FtK-Netzwerktreffen

Around 40 FtK teachers and trainers from all over Germany came together last weekend for our first FtK network meeting in 2023.

In addition to the training courses on offer, the program focused in particular on sharing current challenges and success stories at the individual locations. We were able to use the facilities at the Protestant Academy on Friday and spent Saturday in the conference rooms at the Haus des Buches.

The main topics at this network meeting focused on suggestions for respectful cooperation as well as the implementation of group rules, strengthening teamwork and promoting reading fluency in the context of DaZ and DaF. Based on the very positive feedback from our FtK teachers and trainers, we are confident that the impetus provided here will be applied in the weekly work with our sponsored children and young people in line with our support approach and will have an impact.

With this in mind, we would like to thank all social pedagogues and workshop leaders for the inspiring days and of course our participating FtK teachers and FtK trainers for their dedicated participation.

Cup deposit for a good cause

With their cup deposit donation on the last home match day, the VfL Bochum fans supported our Bochum “Fußball trifft Kultur” locations with over €4,000.

On a seemingly ordinary Bundesliga Saturday at the Vonovia Ruhrstadion, we at LitCam had the honor and pleasure of collecting donations for our FtK locations in Bochum. The highlight: VfL fans were able to support us directly and easily by dropping off their empty deposit cup in one of nine collection garbage cans. The converted proceeds went in full to our FtK locations in Bochum.

Whether before the game, during the half-time break or after the final whistle: many motivated helpers – mainly teachers and pupils from our cooperation partner Werner-von-Siemens Hauptschule Bochum – collected cups without end. Our loyal FtK mascot Litti was also there, helping out diligently and drawing attention to the campaign. At the end of the day, a whopping €4,000 was raised, which we were very proud of and grateful for.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank VfL Bochum, our volunteers and the VfL fans who supported us and our beneficiary children with this campaign and the associated commitment. We had hardly expected such a willingness to donate on the part of the fans due to the unfortunate outcome of the match for VfL, chapeau!

Bochum stadium tour – in the spirit of sustainability

VfL Bochum 1848 has been running the integrative educational program “Fußball trifft Kultur” with the non-profit organization LitCam since the 2015/16 season. As part of the program, VfL has now been able to accompany pupils from the Werner-von-Siemens School in Bochum on a stadium tour focusing on sustainability aspects at the Vonovia Ruhrstadion.

As part of the guided tour of the Vonovia Ruhrstadion, the pupils of the Werner-von-Siemens-Schule were able to gain exciting insights into the history and development of VfL as well as some insights into the club’s sustainability efforts. For example, they learned what the biggest drivers of VfL’s CO2 footprint are and how VfL is trying to minimize them.

After all, a home match day at the Vonovia Ruhrstadion is always associated with a wide variety of environmental impacts. Fans and teams travel to and from the stadium. There are many different snacks and drinks to buy in the stadium. The stadium turf has to be watered. The floodlights shine brightly on Castroper Straße. All of this has an impact on the environment. By introducing a holistic sustainability strategy, VfL aims to systematically record and minimize its negative impact on the environment.

One focus of this programme year is to make children more aware of ecological awareness and sustainable action at “Fußball trifft Kultur”. The fact that soccer clubs such as VfL Bochum communicate their business activities in a tangible way helps us to increase children’s interest in this area.

Children’s PK on Hafenstrasse

FtK program sponsor and RWE fan favourite Felix Herzenbruch answered questions from the FtK kids from the north of Essen at a children’s press conference last week. He passed the barrage of questions from the remarkably well-prepared children with flying colors.

Naturally, the children’s press conference took place in the real Rot-Weiss Essen press conference room and the necessary equipment such as microphones and notepads were also provided. The curious pupils from the fifth and sixth grades of Gesamtschule Essen Nord were full of questions such as “Are Schalke and RWE players actually enemies?”, “How long have you been at Rot-Weiss Essen?” or “Which dream club have you always wanted to play for?” When Felix Herzenbruch told them that Arjen Robben was the strongest opponent of his career to date, the children could only marvel. Of course, the obligatory autographs and a few selfies were not to be missed at the end.

Our cooperation partner Tani Capitain, CSR Manager of Rot-Weiss Essen, as well as our teacher for skills lessons, Büsra Sahin, and soccer coach Masataka Fukuoka, who works as a junior coach at Essen’s youth performance center, were also present.

The children’s press conference made it particularly clear why the involvement of soccer clubs in “Fußball trifft Kultur” is an important part of promoting education. The professional soccer environment manages to motivate children to participate in the program, especially because many children have a connection to their home club. Tani Capitain was all the more pleased with the successful event: “It’s great that the kids have now been informed so extensively by Felix Herzenbruch at their own children’s conference. The preparation for the questions and the engagement with Rot-Weiss Essen is a successful project work.”

And the next extracurricular highlight will soon follow when the children are allowed to run in with the professionals in front of thousands of spectators in the stadium on Hafenstrasse.

News from the Johann-Daniel-Preißler-School

Neues aus der Johann-Daniel-Preißler-Schule

On Tuesday, 14.3.2023, the program included the twice-weekly FtK rules offer of skills lessons and soccer training. The 25 children from years 5 and 6 who were supported this school year were very committed to the program and gave an insight into their current perceptions and feelings about the program and their personal developments associated with it.

In the form of mini-interviews, we wanted to get an impression of how the children at Johann-Daniel-Preißler-Schule find their way around the program, what they particularly enjoy, what they work on individually and what they take away from the program in particular. Remarkable and at the same time unsurprising was the perceptible anticipation among all the children for the final tournament in Duisburg in June, where all the FtK groups from all over Germany will come together to play soccer for the FtK Cup and to exchange ideas. It was also noticeable that many children felt that teamwork and fair and functional group behavior, which is practiced and taught above all in soccer training, were very important.

In skills lessons, a soccer quiz was on the agenda that day to improve the children’s reading skills. This was followed as usual by the “second half” of our support program, soccer training. The focus here is on various team exercises to promote social and integrative group behavior. As a small highlight at the end of the day, the children were allowed to celebrate the goals they scored with their favorite goal celebration in front of the camera as part of a goal-scoring unit – just as true soccer professionals should.

Images: LitCam/Witters