• A lot of celebrities at the event in the German Embassy in Pretoria
• Support of social projects by award winners Jürgen Klopp (2019) and Horst Kriete (2017)
• “Project Horst” of SAFA and HBUFC selected as projects
Under the motto “German Football Ambassador goes South Africa” the non-profit association DEUTSCHER FUSSBALL BOTSCHAFTER e.V., represented by President Roland Bischof, visited South Africa to support social projects. Together with numerous representatives of the South African football community, he was received by the German Ambassador Martin Schäfer at the German Embassy in Pretoria. Prominent guests such as Ernst Middendorp (coach Kaizer Chiefs), Doctor Khumalo (legend Kaizer Chiefs) and Horst Kriete (German Football Ambassador 2017) had announced.
The non-profit association combines the appreciation of German coaches and players working abroad with the support of social projects. This year’s winner of the main prize, cult coach Jürgen Klopp, decided to use his prize money to support the social institution HBUFC (Hout Bay United Football Community), which he had already met personally in the past. The Champions League winner could currently only greet from the USA, where he is with his Liverpool FC to prepare for the season. Frank Fleschenberg, President of the EAGLES Charity Club e.V. and active supporter of the football ambassador idea, is enthusiastic about the “double pass” between Jürgen Klopp and the HBUFC and spontaneously got involved in it with his association also financially on the Africa project.
Horst Kriete, who played a major role in shaping South African football, was personally present when the social “Project Horst” founded for him by the South African Football Association (SAFA) was presented. He visibly felt at home in the circle of faces of the South African football world he had known for many years and said enthusiastically: “Thanks to SAFA and all my friends here!”
Both social projects are committed to the development of young South Africans and use the power of football to this end. SAFA’s “Project Horst” thus pays tribute to the football ideas introduced by Horst Kriete at the time and thus passes on valuable values to the young people. At HBUFC, which looks after the children and young people in the Hout Bay region in Cape Town, Jürgen Klopp was impressed above all by the great commitment of those responsible.
Roland Bischof, who came from Germany especially for this reception, commented: “During my visit to Jürgen Klopp in Liverpool, I discovered a self-produced ball of the HBUFC campaign “Joy Is Round” on his shelf with personal honors and mementoes.
South Africa expert Ernst Middendorp, who represented the Kaizer Chiefs together with the legend Doctor Khumalo, also had a special relationship to the non-profit association. In 2018, together with Gerd Engels (Japan) and Theo Bücker (Lebanon), he was one of the three nominees selected by the jury in the final round from well over thirty German coaches worldwide. He was thus also present at the annual award ceremony in the presence of the Federal Foreign Minister Heiko Maas at the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin.
For the German Ambassador Martin Schäfer, who has also been a member of the jury of the DEUTSCHER FUSSBALL BOTSCHAFTER association for many years, this was the second major football reception at the German Embassy this year after the visit of SV Werder Bremen. So he was pleased also this time about an active participation and positive mood:
“Football is a universal language that brings people and cultures together. It is therefore wonderful that the two German football ambassadors Jürgen Klopp and Horst Kriete have chosen South Africa, which is crazy about football, for their projects. “
