A refugee works now as coach for Werder Bremen
In his home country Syria, Dany Khoshaba had only one thing in mind: football, football, football. When he came to Germany with his family in 2013, he could no longer work as a coach because he had no copies of his coaching licenses. Seven years later, it is impossible to imagine the projects of our member Werder Bremen without him.
Dany Khoshaba works now on four days per week as a coach in the SPIELRAUM programme and delivers also other training sessions for children.
“An acquaintance of mine who was a coach at Werder informed me about the social programmes and invited me to take my son to a SPIELRAUM training session,” explains Dany his first contact with the club. And because not only his son but also Dany Khoshoba himself could not live without football, he was first a regular spectator and works now even as a coach.
“Working with children is what I enjoy most. At the moment, I’m doing my C-coaching-license with the support of Werder,” says Dany who wants to coach additional performance-oriented teams – as in his home country Syria. His background helps him in his daily work, not only because of his football experience there.
New friends at Werder were able to help him with difficulties during his first years in Germany. Now he can give something back. He quickly got in touch with people who have been through similar experiences: “When help is needed, families often call me. Often I can also mediate between the children and their parents.” This is a special benefit for Werder because Dany Khoshoba often acts as a German-Arabic interpreter.
What began with a visit to the SPIELRAUM programme has turned out to be an enormous success not only for the club. Dany has now found a permanent place not only in Germany, but also in the Werder family. Before he had only football, football, football in his head, now the 40-year-old says: “On at least four days a week, from morning to night, there is only Werder, Werder, Werder.”
