Bavarian Football Association takes UEFA best project prize

The Bavarian Football Association's (BFV) dedication to nurturing grassroots and amateur football in its region in Germany has brought the association recognition in the form of the 2014 UEFA Grassroots Day Award for best project – created to confront a particular demographic issue.

Despite being a football-mad region, Bavaria has been struck by a problem, a decrease in the number of births has led to predictions of as much as a 16% drop in the number of youngsters playing for clubs in the area.

"We are aware that the numbers of boys and girls teams will go down in the next few years," said BFV president Dr Rainer Koch. "In Bavaria alone, we've lost 5,000 youth teams in the last five years but not because passion for football has been going down, but because of the demographic changes."

To confront this problem, the 'Pro-Amateur Football' campaign was born, and it now supports around 4,500 amateur football clubs in Bavaria. "The objective," Dr Koch reflects, "has to be to halt the drop of youth teams caused by the demographic change, which also represents a loss in interest in the sport and a drop in the enthusiasm of young people for football. And to halt this tendency, we also strengthen the clubs.

"Pro-Amateur football is a campaign which focuses on strengthening grassroots and amateur football, supporting the around 4,500 amateur football clubs in Bavaria," Dr Koch adds. "We have different goals within this campaign Pro-Amateur Football. The main focus is on schools."

Increasing the availability of football in schools, the scheme has resulted in over 230 link-ups between schools and local clubs. One such school in Bavaria to benefit has been Mühldorf middle school, where coaches from FC Mühldorf visit for weekly coaching sessions.

"There's a high demand to play in the football clubs from the pupils," says Hildegard Hajek Spielvogel, headteacher at the school, "and when you ask the kids about their hobbies and interests, the number one is certainly to play football. So that's why we think it’s a great initiative to have this close cooperation with the clubs, especially football clubs."

Another key initiative of the project is increasing the number of girls involved in football in the region, with over 1,200 girls who previously weren’t playing the game invited to free practice sessions at 54 clubs.

"In Bavaria at the moment we have around 20,000 boys junior teams and about 1,300 girls' teams," Dr Koch explains. "So there you can see the big difference between boys' and girls' football. It's very important for us to show that many clubs can strengthen themselves structurally by also focusing on girls' football a lot. Experience tells us that wherever we have given girls the chance to play football, the girls have come and stuck to it. And they're very enthusiastic about it."

"The Bavarian Football Association initiated [the] project at the local middle school of Muhldorf, which promotes above all girls' football," says Mühldorf mayor Marianne Zollner, "so that girls get the chance to play football. I think there is still a lot to learn, but when you see them then play, you can see it’s a great investment. They really enjoy it and like it."

Other aspects of the eight-point Pro-Amateur Football project includes coach education for trainers of children at local clubs, increased focus on the image of grassroots football on digital platforms and a push to support referees and to get youngsters to consider becoming officials themselves. These activities, as well as the ongoing work with schools, are bearing handsome fruit.

“In the last three years, we’ve been able to increase the cooperation with schools by up to 30%,” Rainer Koch emphasises. “In Bavaria, we are now the sport which has the most school cooperation. But our goal is to further increase those numbers for cooperation, and for that we have to talk to the schools, and with the teachers. And I think we are on a good path.”

"We are very proud and happy to get the chance to receive these funds," Marianne Zollner concludes. "And all of this is to the benefit of our kids. So I say it has to continue, it’s just a great project. You can also see it in the success it brings with it."