Projects

European Union is supporting from 1.7.2021 to 31.12.2022 our project “Spielt mit! Bayerisch-tschechischer Restart im Jugendfußball / Hrajte s námi! Česko-bavorský restart v mládežnickém fotbale”. The project shall encourage the restart after the Covid pandemic in youth football between Czech Republic and Bavaria. Clubs and schools in the border region (districts Karlovy Vary, Plzen, South Bohemia, Niederbayern, Oberpfalz, Oberfranken) are welcome to join the project. Four key partners – DTFS/ČNFŠ, Tandem, Goethe-Institut and FAČR, the Czech Football Association, joined forces to implement the following cross-border activities:

1. Networking and information on the current Covid protocols in Bavaria and Czech Republic
2. 120 cross-border activities for children and youngsters (friendly games, tournaments, football and language animation at schools)
3. Workshops and (online) conferences for coaches and teachers on cross-border youth football

Interested clubs and schools are invited to send us an email to join the project: info@dtfs.de

Photo: © Eric Waha.

This project gives young footballers the chance to learn more about the history of their country and ancestors. We are organising Czech-German youth camps where the boys play football with each other, but also present part of the history of their clubs and countries. Themes could be the Holocaust, for instance, as well as the Iron Curtain and reunification of Europe.

The project „find your way“ gave young footballers the chance to study various options for their further education and professional career in Germany and Czech Republic. 30 youngsters aged 16-18 years met each other for one week in August 2019 in Rehau and Usti nad Labem. They got an insight into the work and future prospects with our partner companies REHAU AG+Co, NETZSCH, Lamilux, Jutta sro. und Umbro Sports Creams. The employment agency Hof/Selb outlined the demands and chances of working abroad. Joint training sessions and games made sure that the young footballers did not miss the football part within this week in Germany and Czech Republic.

The Czech-German spring of football was part of the greater spring of culture celebrating the 20th anniversary of the partnership treaty between Germany and Czech Republic. On behalf of the German Embassy in Prague we organised in the year 2017 a series of 21 youth tournaments including 360 clubs and more than 5000 participants. Young footballers met each other on and off the pitch in Czechia and Germany in the spirit of understanding and fairplay. The tournament were held at various age-groups. Smaller clubs and bigger clubs alike were taking part giving their players the opportunity to learn more about the neighbouring country. The football tournaments were accompanied by language animation in Czech and German provided by Tandem Pilsen/Regensburg.

Kick2015 was promoting innovative approaches for learning with football at schools (in Germany and Czech Republic). Examples were educative tours at the stadium but also how to use foreign languages in a fun way in PE lessons. At the end of the project we published a good-practice manual for teachers and coaches: GOOD PRACTICE MANUAL

„Football2“ was a pilot project which we implemented for the European Commission in Brussels. Our task was to research innovate projects focussing on youth football and education in Europe, to interconnect them and to promote the youth development in less advanced areas. 8 nations participated in the project, which were Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, Germany and England. The project found prominent partners such as the football associations, the Goethe Institutes and leading football academies in each country. At the end of the project we published a good-practice manual how to organise international youth tournaments. GOOD PRACTICE MANUAL

Since 2011 DTFS has been organising a Czech-German school competition with the Goethe Institute in Prague. School teams from all over Czechia meet in Prague in June and compete in the following disciplines with each other: language test, geography and football. The winning teams win a weekend in Berlin where they meet the winners from the same competition in Lithuania and local kids from Hertha Zehlendorf and Kopfball. On this weekend Hertha Berlin is inviting all the children for a day out at the Academy including training sessions, animations, an Academy tour and the visit of a Bundesliga home game in the Olympiastadion.

„Coaches unite“ focussed on the cross-border education of youth coaches from Czech Republic and Bavaria. The coaches education was implemented in cooperation with the Bavarian and the Czech Football Association. The courses took place in both countries. Next to the standard lessons the young coaches got an insight into the youth development in both countries. The coaches acquired the C-licence at the end of their courses.

The leitmotif of this large project was to expand the Czech-Bavarian youth exchange with football to the entire border region. For the first time we provided training sessions, games and camps for the whole Czech-Bavarian borderland. A special focus were football camps where the boys met each other for 4-5 days. The intense format and longer stays abroad strengthened the intercultural and linguistic competences of our children very well. The European Commission in Brussels awarded „1+1=3“ as a best-practice project in the period of Interreg IIIA.

„Football without borders“ was a pilot project in the border region: young German and Czech footballers met each other twice a week for a joint training session and a language course. The sessions took place in the area of Hof and Frantiskovy Lazne. The project was providing much more than sport, the children got to learn the language and culture of their team mates from the other side of the border in a fun way.

„Learning across borders“ brought the Czech-German youth exchange with football on a new level. Young Czech and German footballers did not only meet for training sessions and games. In small groups they visited each other and stayed in their friends’ families. During a week abroad they experienced the daily routine of their mates, including lessons at school and training sessions in their clubs.