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