DFB honours stellar integration efforts

The Deutsche Fußball-Bund (DFB) and his premium partner Mercedes Benz have given out an award for stellar achievements in the field of integration. The football club Türkiyemspor Berlin, the St. Norbert school in Vreden (Northrhine-Westphalia) and the initiative Sportkreis Frankfurt were the first winners. At the inaugural award ceremony for the DFB and Mercedes Benz Integration Prize last Friday, DFB teammanager Oliver Bierhoff honoured representatives of the three 2007 winners. During the Mercedes Benz Junior-Cup, a prestigious youth tournament in Sindelfingen, the winners received Mercedes Benz transporters as well as cash-prizes of up to Euro 10,000.

DFB-President Dr. Theo Zwanziger explains impetus and incentive for initiating the award. "Football has the unique potential to serve as a stepping stone for disadvantaged and sometimes discriminated minorities in our society. Sports should know no boundaries. People from all walks of life meet on the field or at the sidelines, as players and fans."

Modern Germany has become the home for millions of immigrants. Currently, every third child below the age of five years has a foreign nationality or has a migrational background. "Football reaches out to boys and girls of every cultural background. If the various social agents interact, we can use football as the perfect tool to further an integrated society", says Zwanziger.

"We should use the power of football for the benefit of integration", said Bierhoff during the ceremony in Sindelfingen, a city 15 kilometres west of Stuttgart. Zwanziger, Bierhoff and Dr. Olaf Göttgens, Vice President Brand Communications Mercedes-Benz, belonged to the selection committee that had handpicked the three winners. 181 clubs, schools and iniatives had registered for the competition. Göttgens said: "Integration is one of the major tasks of our generation. As one of the leading companies in Germany, we felt the need to support the Integration Award."

In 1978, turkish immigrants founded Türkiyemspor Berlin. Today, Germany’s most well-known turkish football club fields three men’s, 14 boys’ and three girls’ teams. Membership is not limited to a specific nationality. In the varsity team, seven different nationalities are represented. Turkiyemspor has often been the target of racial slurs and right-wing propaganda. The club’s administration tries to counter such attacks in a constructive attitude, as for instance when players and coaches participated in a de-escalation seminar prior to the start of the season. The clubs clear-cut support of girls playing the game sends a strong signal into Berlin’s Islamic community.

St. Norbert, a catholic primary school in Northrhine-Westphalia with an immigrant quota of 20 percent, also stresses integration through playing football, while the Sportkreis Frankfurt operates in a subsidised housing district of Frankfurt. The initiative motivated teenagers to play football and then managed to get them jobs and training positions.

DFB and Mercedes Benz Integration Award 2007

Clubs
1. Türkiyemspor Berlin
2. MTV Stuttgart
3. TuS Halberpracht/Vatanspor Meggen

Schools
1. St. Norbert School in Vreden
2. Schule am Sportpark in Erbach
3. Heisenberg Gymnasium in Dortmund

Special Price
1. Sportkreis Frankfurt
2. Buntkicktgut München
3. Gemeinde Sulzfeld