Football meets Culture

One of the aims of LitCam is to encourage confidence and promote greater equality of opportunity for children and young people from educationally and socially disadvantaged families, often combined with supporting integration. Current social developments reveal that despite compulsory school attendance, many children and young people fail to reach an adequate standard of education. In Germany, more than that 65,000 young people (source: Bildungsbericht 2010 von Bund und Ländern - 2010 National and Federal States Education Report) leave school every year without passing school leaving exams. Approx. one-fifth of 15-year-olds are unable to read and write properly, which means they will have difficulty in finding a job.

This was the reason for LitCam's launch of the first project of its own in 2007 in Frankfurt. The idea behind it: the combination of football training and special lessons would provide an opportunity for better social and communicative behaviour in a team and in addition, would arouse interest in education and culture among young people from educationally disadvantaged backgrounds. The “Football meets Culture” project runs for at least a whole school year. A minimum of 24 children take part in 2 groups of 12 participants each. The children have football training twice a week, followed by special lessons based on the children's particular needs. The football training is carried out in cooperation with a well-known local football club. The special lessons are geared to the individual needs of those taking part, but the emphasis is usually on the facilitation of the German language. Football is often used as a topic, such as arithmetic exercises using football league tables, or reading football books.

A cultural event is on the programme once a month. This might be a visit to a museum, a rap poetry workshop or a rally-run through a library.
The first “Football meets Culture” project began in 2007 in Frankfurt and continues to this day. Project locations Hamburg and Berlin followed in 2008, and Stuttgart in 2010, as well as a new “Football meets Culture” project specially for girls in Frankfurt. In February 2011 another project started in Gelsenkirchen.
Since September 2010, the nationwide “Football meets Culture” projects have been partnered on the culture side by the German Football Assocation`s museum, the DFB-Fussballmuseum. Starting in 2011 the first workshops headlined “My Football Museum” will take place in the different project locations.

In August 2007, the “Football meets Culture” project was awarded for its innovative approach and designated a “Select Location 2007” in the location campaign “Deutschland – Land der Ideen” - “Germany – Land of Ideas”.

In October 2010, the “Football meets Culture” project received the education award “Lernanstoss” - “Learning Kick-Off” from the Nuremberg Football Culture Academy - Akademie für Fussball-Kultur.

Better school results and better dealings with one another

“The objective is long-term improvement in the children's knowledge of German, among other areas, and in the process, to facilitate transition to secondary school”, explains Karin Plötz, director of LitCam. “And the great success proves us right. We have seen that the children taking part are also able to concentrate much better in normal lessons and that their school achievements in general have improved considerably. The children's behaviour with one another has also changed for the better. They are less aggressive and calmer in dealing with their fellow pupils.”

"Football meets Culture"at the Frankfurt Karmeliterschule:
Watch the film (in German)