Starting point of the project
In 2024, the European Men's Football Championship was held in Germany under the motto "United by Football. United in the heart of Europe". At previous European and World Championships, however, in addition to friendly and unifying moments, there were also public debates about the extent to which socio-political issues should have a place in football.
For example, players and fans in the stadium pointed out discrimination against people in football and in society as a whole, while football associations sometimes regarded this as problematic political statements and prohibited it. The project "Football Contact Zones 2024 - The Football Community Lab" was a model project that built on these debates and was realised in cities such as Mönchengladbach, Hanover, Berlin, Frankfurt am Main and Dortmund.
What is a Football Contact Zone?
The Football Contact Zones are set up as a pop-up programme lasting between one and two days at locations that are relevant to the target groups in the social space (such as fan miles, club grounds). They include four different stations where the project's questions are supplemented with different perspectives from the world of football:
- What does politics have to do with football? What role do (democratic) values play in everyday football?
- What role does nationalism play in football in Europe?
- Which social groups fight for recognition and belonging in football?
- How can positive forces in sport be strengthened?
The Football Contact Zones focus on the perspectives of groups that are underrepresented in football and/or potentially affected by exclusion processes. Other participation-orientated formats are developed and combined - for example meeting opportunities, art projects and football tournaments. Participants in the Football Contact Zones explore the topics of diversity, inequality and discrimination in football and consider what these topics have to do with themselves. At the same time, they can contribute ideas for good coexistence in football and thus actively help shape the Football Contact Zones. Pupils and students can be trained as multiplicators in the project in advance. They communicate the project content in a peer-to-peer approach together with the main project managers.
Cooperation and promotion
The project was developed in cooperation with Makkabi Deutschland e.V. and the Institute for Didactics of Democracy at the University of Hanover, as well as with other partners at the individual venues.
