Fussball Kultur

The German Academy for Football & Culture conceives football as an important part of everyday culture and has established a nation-wide unique competence center in the broad field between sports section and feature pages. By now, alongside the DFB-Kulturstiftung (The Cultural Foundation of the German Football Association, founded in 2007), the Academy is the central institution for cultural matters concerning the game in Germany – as the growing line up of personalities and institutions proves.

Since its beginnings in October 2004, the Academy has hosted and supported several events of nationwide significance: politicians as well as former players, officials, scientists, journalists, authors and comedians have not only participated in panels about racism or gender inequality in football or its role at the time of national socialism, but have also met several times to celebrate culture, for example at performances of the German and Austrian authors´ national teams - competing at the theatre as well as on the pitch.

Regular events are a reading series (“Kaltblütig verwandelt”, since 2008), talks about regional football clubs and their ‘heros’ (“Weißt Du noch damals…”, since 2009), expert talks about current topics of football culture (“Nürnberger Gespräche zur Fußball-Kultur”, since 2009) and a movie series (“Spiel ab”, since 2011). In addition, there are special programs accompanying the international tournaments, underlining their cultural importance.

Another important task is the Academy’s networking function: The website www.fussball-kultur.org  spreads news and promotes events across Germany and connects fans, activists, artists and academics.

As an annual highlight, the German Football Culture Awards are granted in an atmospheric gala. Beside prizes for the best book, the most innovative educational project, the best phrase and a supporters’ award (with annually changing themes), a lifetime achievement award is granted: The Walther Bensemann Award, which is named after the founder of kicker sports magazine, honours social commitment and responsibility. The Awardees by 2011 are: Franz Beckenbauer (2006), Alfredo Di Stefano (2007), Bert Trautmann (2008), César Luis Menotti (2009), Otto Rehhagel (2010) and Sir 'Bobby' Charlton (2011).