Pre-match huddle: refugees and local children from Mainz come together as part of the "Welcome to Football" project - © © DFL DEUTSCHE FUSSBALL LIGA
Pre-match huddle: refugees and local children from Mainz come together as part of the "Welcome to Football" project - © © DFL DEUTSCHE FUSSBALL LIGA

Welcome to football

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Cologne – Following co-operation between 1. FSV Mainz 05, amateur club FC Ente Bagdad and the Juvente Mainz Foundation, the first alliance of the integration initiative “Welcome to football” - which is supported by the Bundesliga Foundation – has been launched.

Widespread support

Kharrat Loujain, who everyone simple calls ‘Lou’, sits on the side of the pitch and rubs his right shin. He came off worse in a tackle and despite the pain the slender youngster with long black hair is eager to rejoin the action straight away. “It’s so much fun playing football here I’d like to come every day,” he says.

- © DFL DEUTSCHE FUSSBALL LIGA

'Our duty as humans'

While Bundesliga side Mainz 05, Ente Bagdad and the Juvente Mainz Foundation are working in conjunction, other partnerships between Bundesliga clubs, amateur sides and social organisations are planned in Berlin, Braunschweig, Leipzig and Stuttgart, all under the “Welcome to Football”  umbrella. 

- © DFL DEUTSCHE FUSSBALL LIGA