Accompanied by Bundesliga’s most capped player Charly Körbel and Germany’s U21s manager Horst Hrubesch, Wolfgang Niersbach visited a refugee centre in Egelsbach on Wednesday. As part of the visit, a select DFB XI side played against Refugees United, a migrant team based at SG Egelsbach. During the visit, the DFB president announced that more funds would be allocated to the "1-0 for a welcome" initiative. DFB.de caught up with Niersbach to discuss the visit:
Question: Mr Niersbach, are giving €600,000 to the "1-0 for a welcome initiative", with the national team and German government as project partners. Do you think it’s enough?
Wolfgang Niersbach: It's never enough money. I can say now that we will do more. The campaign supports amateur clubs that take in refugees. The response has been incredible – 600 clubs have already applied for funding in the last few months.
Question: Can the DFB help make the bureaucratic hurdles less difficult for the refugees?
Niersbach: We want to make the registration process easier. But not without bending any rules. There are international regulations in place for the transfer of youth players that obviously cannot be enforced given the current situation and huge influx of refugees. But at least they exist. The individual regional associations that issue player passes have all been briefed to make the process as swift as possible. We have also created a brochure for grassroots clubs like here in Egelsbach, which highlights the exact aims in clear and easy to understand language.
Question: It’s been a busy week for you. First of all you were with the national team, who have all but sealed qualification to Euro 2016 with wins against Poland and Scotland. Now you’re in Egelsbach. Was today’s game between the DFB delegation and the refugee team an emotional end to the week?
Niersbach: I’m pleased to say it was. I was particularly moved during my visit to the flat of a Syrian family who fled to Germany in February 2014, with four children (three boys and the youngest a five-year-old girl). The boys (15, twelve and nine years old) all play football here at SG Egelsbach. They speak great German after such as short space of time; it was astonishing to see. We feel so well integrated that we don’t even think to talk about it anymore, said the family. On a living room cupboard hangs a Germany flag and the oldest boy declares proudly: “We won the World Cup.” For me that was a brilliant example of successful integration in some of the trickiest circumstances. It gives me confidence and moved my greatly.
Question: Is the footballing world not obliged to do its bit to support the refugee crisis?
Niersbach: It is our absolute duty to send a clear message from the top right down to the grassroots of the game. We have done that from very early on with the “1-0 for a welcome” campaign. We want to welcome the refugees with open arms. That message is out their now and must be acted upon. This is happening already among the 36 professional clubs that are all running some fantastic projects in support of the crisis. But our role is to support the smaller, amateur clubs who are dedicating time and effort to helping the incoming refugees and to make them feel at home in our country. This project won’t be over in two or three months; it will continue to be a key topic for the next few years. <
Question: The DFB team once played against a Vatican side; today they face Refugees United from SG Egelsbach. What are your expectations?
Niersbach: I’m very excited to see what our team can do. They are made up of people from the accounting and marketing teams, as well as from various regions all over Germany. Of course I am also curious to see what the migrant team can do. There will be a lot of countries represented on the pitch. I predicted a 4-4 draw, but the result is completely unimportant.
Question: What potential do the refugees have with regards to the national team?
Niersbach: Our national team is proof that players with a migrant background can make all the way to the top. Be it Jérôme Boateng, Sami Khedira and Mesut Özil, or the likes of Karim Bellarabi and Ilkay Gündoğan, it doesn’t matter. They have all made it. These players are without doubt positive role models for those who arrived in Germany today, or those who will arrive tomorrow. Even when I spoke to the nine-year-old boy in the Syrian family who his favourite players were, he answered “Lahm, Schweini and Özil.” That is exactly the kind of “us” mentality that we want to strengthen. The key to successful integration remains the swift learning of the language.
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Accompanied by Bundesliga’s most capped player Charly Körbel and Germany’s U21s manager Horst Hrubesch, Wolfgang Niersbach visited a refugee centre in Egelsbach on Wednesday. As part of the visit, a select DFB XI side played against Refugees United, a migrant team based at SG Egelsbach. During the visit, the DFB president announced that more funds would be allocated to the "1-0 for a welcome" initiative. DFB.de caught up with Niersbach to discuss the visit:
Question: Mr Niersbach, are giving €600,000 to the "1-0 for a welcome initiative", with the national team and German government as project partners. Do you think it’s enough?
Wolfgang Niersbach: It's never enough money. I can say now that we will do more. The campaign supports amateur clubs that take in refugees. The response has been incredible – 600 clubs have already applied for funding in the last few months.
Question: Can the DFB help make the bureaucratic hurdles less difficult for the refugees?
Niersbach: We want to make the registration process easier. But not without bending any rules. There are international regulations in place for the transfer of youth players that obviously cannot be enforced given the current situation and huge influx of refugees. But at least they exist. The individual regional associations that issue player passes have all been briefed to make the process as swift as possible. We have also created a brochure for grassroots clubs like here in Egelsbach, which highlights the exact aims in clear and easy to understand language.
Question: It’s been a busy week for you. First of all you were with the national team, who have all but sealed qualification to Euro 2016 with wins against Poland and Scotland. Now you’re in Egelsbach. Was today’s game between the DFB delegation and the refugee team an emotional end to the week?
Niersbach: I’m pleased to say it was. I was particularly moved during my visit to the flat of a Syrian family who fled to Germany in February 2014, with four children (three boys and the youngest a five-year-old girl). The boys (15, twelve and nine years old) all play football here at SG Egelsbach. They speak great German after such as short space of time; it was astonishing to see. We feel so well integrated that we don’t even think to talk about it anymore, said the family. On a living room cupboard hangs a Germany flag and the oldest boy declares proudly: “We won the World Cup.” For me that was a brilliant example of successful integration in some of the trickiest circumstances. It gives me confidence and moved my greatly.
Question: Is the footballing world not obliged to do its bit to support the refugee crisis?
Niersbach: It is our absolute duty to send a clear message from the top right down to the grassroots of the game. We have done that from very early on with the “1-0 for a welcome” campaign. We want to welcome the refugees with open arms. That message is out their now and must be acted upon. This is happening already among the 36 professional clubs that are all running some fantastic projects in support of the crisis. But our role is to support the smaller, amateur clubs who are dedicating time and effort to helping the incoming refugees and to make them feel at home in our country. This project won’t be over in two or three months; it will continue to be a key topic for the next few years. <
Question: The DFB team once played against a Vatican side; today they face Refugees United from SG Egelsbach. What are your expectations?
Niersbach: I’m very excited to see what our team can do. They are made up of people from the accounting and marketing teams, as well as from various regions all over Germany. Of course I am also curious to see what the migrant team can do. There will be a lot of countries represented on the pitch. I predicted a 4-4 draw, but the result is completely unimportant.
Question: What potential do the refugees have with regards to the national team?
Niersbach: Our national team is proof that players with a migrant background can make all the way to the top. Be it Jérôme Boateng, Sami Khedira and Mesut Özil, or the likes of Karim Bellarabi and Ilkay Gündoğan, it doesn’t matter. They have all made it. These players are without doubt positive role models for those who arrived in Germany today, or those who will arrive tomorrow. Even when I spoke to the nine-year-old boy in the Syrian family who his favourite players were, he answered “Lahm, Schweini and Özil.” That is exactly the kind of “us” mentality that we want to strengthen. The key to successful integration remains the swift learning of the language.
