The DFB, the national team and the German government are supporting amateur clubs across the country with the financing of football for refugees. "1:0 für ein Willkommen" [1-0 to open arms ] is well under way. Aydan Öyoguz, the German governments commissary for migration, refugees and integration, as well as Wolfgang Watzke, chief executive of the DFB’s Edgius Braun foundation, presented a check to Hamburg club TSV Wandsetal on Tuesday.
The DFB foundation, the national team and the government have made €600,000 available. In 2015 and 2016, around 600 different clubs will be sponsored to take on refugee children, to cover the initial membership fees, organise travel and language courses, or to buy football kits and boots. DFB President Wolfgang Niersbach launched the initiative alongside Özoguz at the German Chancellery. Seven weeks later, TSV Wandsetal are the 270th club to receive the funding, quickly and unbureaucratically. There are 35 young refugees training there under the care of former Iran goalkeeper Mansour Ghalami.
“More people are fleeing to us because there is no end to war, violence and persecution”, explained state minister Aydan Özoguz. “These people have suffered unimaginable pain and they need our help. And they need day-to-day support and contact with their new neighbours. There are many initiatives that work hard to make it easier for refugees to come to Germany and to give them initial contact with their new society. The football clubs are helping too: they organise solidarity tournaments, clothes collections and obviously football, which all contributes to the integration process. I am very thankful to the clubs for that and that’s why I am sponsoring the initiative.”
"Welcome to the club": DFB brochure offers tips
The funds can be applied for at the foundation’s office in Hennef, where the committee will decide on who to award funding to. Efforts are being made to ensure the available money is share proportionally across the different federal states to correspond with the number refugees taken in by each.
“As footballers we want to show an example with the initiative”, said Wolfgang Watzke. “We do that by motivating the clubs to approach people who come to Germany in desperate need of help. To take these people into the clubs is nothing special, but a normal part of the clubs work. The exceptional circumstances of refugees, however, require additional effort. We want to ease this burden for clubs with the initial funding.”
Alongside the initiative, the DFB have released a brochure – “Welcome to the club! Football with refugees – which offers tips and advice for the club, in particular with regards to questions surrounding match eligibility, insurance and honorary positions.
