The jury of DFB President Wolfgang Niersbach, the Representative of the National Team Oliver Bierhoff, the Commissioner for Immigration, Refugees and Integration Aydan Özoguz and Laura Tilly from the Daimler AG has announced the shortlist for this year’s DFB- and Mercedes Benz-Award for Integration. The ceremony revealing the winners in the categories “Club”, “School” and “Independent Community Institutions” will be held in Frankfurt am Main on the day after the international fixture against Australia on 26th March. An honorary award will be given to the “Initiative NestWerk e.V.” that collaborates with TV host Reinhold Beckmann and FC St. Pauli. The second-league club offers support and opportunities for children from socially disadvantaged families in Hamburg.
The three nominated clubs are the SV Lindenau 1848 (Saxony), FSV Dornberg (Baden) and FC Süderelbe (Hamburg). The Saxons have been providing sports opportunities for refugees in a nearby asylum-seekers’ hostel for forty years. The judges have also nominated four schools and three community initiatives. The winners will receive a total of 150,000 € in prize money. The ceremony has been conducted annually since 2007 by the DFB and their sponsors Mercedes-Benz.
Wolfgang Niersbach says: “Many of the smaller clubs have reacted spontaneously this year and offered a football programme for the refugees. This is how amateur football supports the communities that have struggled with taking in over 170,000 new refugees in 2014. The valuable work that the ten nominees for the year’s DFB- and Mercedes Benz-Award for Integration do on a day to day basis shows what football can achieve.”
The winners will receive a Mercedes-Benz Vito, the second and third placed are awarded monetary prizes of 10,000 and 5,000 € respectively. The number of applications indicates the importance of integrative work. Since 2007 there have been 1594 applicants for the DFB- and Mercedes Benz-Award for Integration.
Commissioner Aydan Özoguz says: “Football’s power to strengthen social cohesion is nearly unmatched. The integration award highlights those initiatives and measures that contribute to a natural sense of community. The high number of applicants proves how diverse the opportunities and the clubs have become. I’m congratulating all winners and hope that the award will be a further motivation for clubs to continue offering so many opportunities. Football is setting an example: Diversity is a gain for our country!”
Laura Tilly, Global Diversity Daimler AG, says: "Diversity is a driving force at Daimler, just as team sports also profit from diversity. It is a pleasure to award people, who are never tired of volunteering to use the power of sport to help integration. The integration award is very important to us, because it spreads diversity in the world. Moreover, the award has been an important feature of our longstanding cooperation with the DFB.”
Clubs Shortlist*:
FSV Dornberg (Badischer Fußballverband)
SV Lindenau (Sächsischer Fußballverband)
FC Süderelbe (Hamburger Fußball-Verband)
Schools Shortlist:
Heinrich-Böll-Gesamtschule in Köln (Fußball-Verband Mittelrhein)
Sonnenblumenschule in Langen (Hessischer Fußball-Verband)
Geschwister-Scholl-Schule in Seelze (Niedersächsischer Fußballverband)
Grundschule Karlstraße in Wolfenbüttel (Niedersächsischer Fußballverband)
The jury of DFB President Wolfgang Niersbach, the Representative of the National Team Oliver Bierhoff, the Commissioner for Immigration, Refugees and Integration Aydan Özoguz and Laura Tilly from the Daimler AG has announced the shortlist for this year’s DFB- and Mercedes Benz-Award for Integration. The ceremony revealing the winners in the categories “Club”, “School” and “Independent Community Institutions” will be held in Frankfurt am Main on the day after the international fixture against Australia on 26th March. An honorary award will be given to the “Initiative NestWerk e.V.” that collaborates with TV host Reinhold Beckmann and FC St. Pauli. The second-league club offers support and opportunities for children from socially disadvantaged families in Hamburg.
The three nominated clubs are the SV Lindenau 1848 (Saxony), FSV Dornberg (Baden) and FC Süderelbe (Hamburg). The Saxons have been providing sports opportunities for refugees in a nearby asylum-seekers’ hostel for forty years. The judges have also nominated four schools and three community initiatives. The winners will receive a total of 150,000 € in prize money. The ceremony has been conducted annually since 2007 by the DFB and their sponsors Mercedes-Benz.
Wolfgang Niersbach says: “Many of the smaller clubs have reacted spontaneously this year and offered a football programme for the refugees. This is how amateur football supports the communities that have struggled with taking in over 170,000 new refugees in 2014. The valuable work that the ten nominees for the year’s DFB- and Mercedes Benz-Award for Integration do on a day to day basis shows what football can achieve.”
The winners will receive a Mercedes-Benz Vito, the second and third placed are awarded monetary prizes of 10,000 and 5,000 € respectively. The number of applications indicates the importance of integrative work. Since 2007 there have been 1594 applicants for the DFB- and Mercedes Benz-Award for Integration.
Commissioner Aydan Özoguz says: “Football’s power to strengthen social cohesion is nearly unmatched. The integration award highlights those initiatives and measures that contribute to a natural sense of community. The high number of applicants proves how diverse the opportunities and the clubs have become. I’m congratulating all winners and hope that the award will be a further motivation for clubs to continue offering so many opportunities. Football is setting an example: Diversity is a gain for our country!”
Laura Tilly, Global Diversity Daimler AG, says: "Diversity is a driving force at Daimler, just as team sports also profit from diversity. It is a pleasure to award people, who are never tired of volunteering to use the power of sport to help integration. The integration award is very important to us, because it spreads diversity in the world. Moreover, the award has been an important feature of our longstanding cooperation with the DFB.”
Clubs Shortlist*:
FSV Dornberg (Badischer Fußballverband)
SV Lindenau (Sächsischer Fußballverband)
FC Süderelbe (Hamburger Fußball-Verband)
Schools Shortlist:
Heinrich-Böll-Gesamtschule in Köln (Fußball-Verband Mittelrhein)
Sonnenblumenschule in Langen (Hessischer Fußball-Verband)
Geschwister-Scholl-Schule in Seelze (Niedersächsischer Fußballverband)
Grundschule Karlstraße in Wolfenbüttel (Niedersächsischer Fußballverband)
Independent Community Institutions Shortlist:
Kolping Bildungswerk Kaufbeuren (Bayerischer Fußballverband)
Sportkreis Stuttgart (Württembergischer Fußballverband)
Augen auf e.V. Zittau (Sächsischer Fußballverband)
Honorary Award:
NestWerk e.V. and FC St. Pauli
*Nominees in alphabetical order according to their city
