Erfurt. The new year 2026 started with a highlight at the Erfurt sports high school. Over three days, the team worked in cooperation with the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, the Erfurt Fan Council, the FC Rot-Weiß Erfurt youth academy and representatives of the FC RWE GmbH office on topics relating to “exclusion and discrimination” in football.
The topic of “team spirit instead of enemy image” was addressed in educational policy on several levels. Among other things, the systematic dehumanization by the National Socialists in the Third Reich was vividly reflected on the biography of Julius Hirsch.
Spirit’s commitment to social participation in sport was crowned every day with the visit of two football players from our Unified football team. Erik and Elias reported on their experiences of winning the Gothia Cup 2025 in Gothenburg and were duly celebrated as champions by all the young players. As international cup winners, you were allowed to face the RWE footballers at a final press conference, who took on the role of journalists and had plenty of questions for the two cup winners.
At the obligatory final photo, the autograph hunters on both sides got their money’s worth and high-fives were exchanged. As well as one or two anecdotes exchanged from football player to football player. Just like athletes do to each other.
A big thank you to everyone involved who made these three special days possible. At the end we would especially like to thank FC Rot-Weiß Erfurt for the surprise gift in the form of the RWE jerseys. Inclusion and football in Erfurt are no longer in their infancy, they are making really big strides and are becoming increasingly true to the meaning of our motto “One Ball, One World”.
