Spirit of Football

Many children in Europe between the ages of 8 and 16 live in low-income areas, of which a significant proportion has a migration background. As well as struggling with economic hardship, the rural neighbourhoods in which these young people live are politically more right-wing. Integration is a significant issue facing these children and adolescents, often resulting in further problems and community tension.

Spirit of Football (SoF) was created to bring people from different cultures together around the 2006 World Cup. Through support from a local university (University of Erfurt), the project “One ball, One World” was born. This ball is the equivalent of the Olympic torch, which is carried globally, engaging communities around the world to form an interactive education on cultures.

Since then, Spirit of Football has developed further programming through refugee integration training, holiday camps for underprivileged children, and cultural evenings. Additionally, SoF runs university seminars and works with children and adolescents in schools and communities, educating trainers, educators and social workers to pass on methods in their own clubs and communities.