Bochum stadium tour – in the spirit of sustainability

Bochumer Stadionführung - Im Zeichen der Nachhaltigkeit

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.

Sustainability in our club – A guest at BVB

Nachhaltigkeit in unserem Club – Zu Gast beim BVB

In keeping with the motto “Sustainability in our club”, the FtK kids from Dortmund visited the big BVB club as part of a stadium tour.

The children from the Anne Frank School in Dortmund explored many questions, focusing in particular on energy-saving measures and possible emission factors. How is waste actually disposed of? What is done with the leftover food? How much electricity is consumed on a match day? And what happens to the used jerseys?

In addition, the children were quite surprised at how much_CO2 is consumed on a normal Bundesliga Saturday and what comprehensive sustainability management is needed behind the performance of such a large Bundesliga club in order to keep the_{CO2 footprint}as low as possible.

As a thank you for their active participation and interest, the children were given a BVB jersey set, which they can proudly wear at the big FtK final tournament in Duisburg next month. Last but not least, BVB’s Emma the Bee even dropped in on the group, which naturally aroused great enthusiasm among the children.

Images: LitCam

Berlin

Berlin: Zurich School

School: Zurich School
Team: Dilan Abaci (teacher) & Julius Persigehl (trainer), Gökhan Beyazgül (substitute)
Club: 1. FC Union Berlin
Project sponsor:
Sponsor: Laureus Sport for Good Foundation
With FtK since: 2019
Children reached so far: 284

Cooperation partner

News from the Zurich School

Augsburg

Augsburg: Bärenkeller primary and secondary school

School: Bärenkeller primary and secondary school
Team: Samuel Olejnik (teacher) & Tim Gerth (trainer)
Club: FC Augsburg
Project sponsor: Patrick Pfeiffer
Sponsor: German Postcode Lottery
With FtK since: 2021
Children reached so far: 60

Our sponsor for Augsburg

Cooperation partner

News from the Bärenkeller

Final tournament of “Fußball trifft Kultur” with over 600 children from 23 cities

Darmstadt, 10.06.2024 – Team spirit, fun and fair play – that was the motto of the “Fußball trifft Kultur” (FtK) final tournament 2024. Around 600 participants in the integrative educational program “Fußball trifft Kultur” travelled to Darmstadt from all over Germany to compete for the coveted trophies in the U10 and U14 age groups.

The 14th 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 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 support of language, exercise and culture. Florian Holzbrecher, Head of Events & CSR at the host of the final tournament SV Darmstadt 98, describes how “Fußball trifft Kultur” supports the children in the respective locations as follows: “We provide a coach for the weekly program and promote the motivation of the participating children through the charisma of the club and unique events such as children’s press conferences, stadium tours or match visits. It’s great to see how the kids, led by our coach Nils Buhr and teacher Ben Schneider, not only learn in terms of content, but also grow together as a real team and act like one.”

The final tournament in Darmstadt 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 the Grundschule an der Glinder Au (U10) and Herbert-Grillo-Gesamtschule (U14) were particularly pleased to win on behalf of FC St. Pauli and MSV Duisburg and raise the coveted challenge cup to the sky in Darmstadt. The groups from Braunschweig (Diesterwegstraße elementary school) and Mainz (IGS Mainz Bretzenheim) were given a special honor when they were awarded the Fair Play Cup for their exemplary behavior.

In addition, a special award was on the program in the year of the European Football Championship in Germany: As part of the FtK-EuropeChallenge, the children spent the past six months exploring different European countries and their cultures.
The results were evaluated by a jury consisting of Matthias Bader (professional footballer at SV Darmstadt 98 and FtK program sponsor), Franziska Fey (Chairwoman of the DFL Foundation), Jonas Kozinowski (author of “Was ist Was – Fußball”), Karin Plötz (Director of LitCam) and Anton Schumacher (Head of Education at Eintracht Frankfurt’s youth development center) and were awarded prizes at the final tournament.
The winners from the Grundschule an der Glinder Au were delighted.

The various exercise stations also provided variety, where children and visitors were able to put their soccer skills to the test at a goal wall and a shot measuring system, among other things, and grow together as a team in various group games.
Dr Nadine Seddig, Head of Programs and Funding Management, who has been supporting FtK with the DFL Foundation as a nationwide partner since 2012, emphasized the central role of the tournament in the success of the project: “The final tournament is the absolute highlight of the FtK program every year. The great anticipation of the participating children is palpable for everyone and the atmosphere on site is characterized by great togetherness. It’s always great to see how everyone comes together to play soccer, have fun and achieve a goal as a team. That makes the tournament a great success again this year!”

Karin Plötz, Director of LitCam gGmbH, which has been implementing the integrative education program since 2007, also drew a positive conclusion: “This year’s final tournament was once again the absolute highlight of the “Fußball trifft Kultur” program year. The children love showing what they can do by playing soccer. And they experience how important team spirit, fairness and respect are. They are proud to be part of such a big tournament. It’s an unforgettable experience for all the kids.”

The final placings:

U10

1st place: Grundschule an der Glinder Au, Hamburg

2nd place: GGS Flurstraße, Düsseldorf

3rd place: Fasanenhofschule, Stuttgart

4th place: GGS Lustheider Straße, Cologne

U14

1st place: Herbert-Grillo-Schule II, Duisburg

2nd place: Anne-Frank-Schule I, Dortmund

3rd place: IGS Bretzenheim, Mainz

4th place: Bärenkeller II secondary school, Augsburg

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.