Simply Football Cup

Simply Football Cup

Plenty of highlights at the sixth Simply Football Cup

The sixth Einfach Fußball Cup (Simply Football Cup) at the Kurtekotten Academy was a complete success in every respect and attracted a record number of participants.

Hardly anybody who was at the first Einfach Fußball Cup in Leverkusen in 2011 would have dared to imagine that the sixth year of this tournament in October 2016 would involve 300 children and young people with disability from 22 special needs schools from across Germany. The Einfach Fußball project, instigated by Bayer AG and the DFB, has developed into very successful partnership thanks to the German Football Association’s Sepp Herberger Foundation, and has proved to be a real success story. Through the Einfach Fußball pilot programme Bayer AG and the DFB have promoted participation in club football for children and young people with disability and 22 October 2016 provided another day full of highlights for the youngsters.

Brian the Lion opens the tournament

The Bayer 04 mascot, Brian the Lion, was given the honour of kicking off the tournament at 11 o’clock in the morning and it was no surprise that Brian was the centre of attention for the 300 youngsters. The next two hours saw 24 teams play to their hearts content at Kurtekotten: “When I see how 300 people on the pitch and least 300 off it get on with each other then we can say with pride that the relationship with Bayer AG has brought about something fantastic,” declared Meinolf Sprink, fan and community director at Bayer 04.

Surprise guest Pohjanpalo

That was not the end of the highlights for the participants of the Einfach Fußball Cup. The awards ceremony at the end of the event, that applied to all participants, was attended by the currently injured Bayer 04 pro Joel Pohjanpalo. The striker was busy signing autographs to the great pleasure of the youngsters. “It’s very important for me to be here. When I was 11 I attended an event with the Finland international Mikael Forsell and I was really excited. I know how important it is for children and young people when a player comes to visit and I’m very happy to be here this event.”

Awards ceremony at the BayArena

The day was rounded off with the awards ceremony on a very large stage: CEO Michael Schade, sporting director Rudi Völler and Jürgen Beckman, sports coordinator at Bayer AG, presented awards to the participants during half-time in the match against Hoffenheim on the pitch at the BayArena. “For Bayer AG it’s a very important subject that we’ve been happy to support from the start of the project. It’s wonderful to see how Einfach Fußball has developed thanks to the help of everybody involved,” said a happy Jürgen Beckmann.

The sixth Einfach Fußball Cup at the Kurtekotten Academy demonstrates: The Einfach Fußball project is a unique success story and the participants are already looking forward to the seventh tournament next year.