Over recent weeks, all Bundesliga clubs have taken measures to support their local communities during these difficult times. Be it through initiatives in cooperation with local governments, companies, their fan communities or their players, all teams have shown that their heritage and local ties are a core part of their identity as a Bundesliga club.
Ranging from innovative support platforms or voucher systems, to emotional and logistical support for elderly fans, to the supply of medical equipment required during the crisis, to players and club employees personally providing on-site support, all these efforts demonstrate that the Bundesliga is strongly connected to its fan base and communities.
Furthermore, this strong sense of solidarity not only exists towards its fans, but also within the league, exemplified by the generous and unique act of the Bundesliga’s Champions League clubs Bayern München, Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig and Bayer Leverkusen, pledging 20 million EUR to support fellow German teams during the coronavirus pandemic.
Bundesliga:
- FC Augsburg
1) Voucher giveaways: FC Augsburg have launched a series of campaigns under the slogan #augsburghältzusammen2020 (#augsburgstickstogether2020) to support and strengthen the local economy in Augsburg. As part of the campaign, the club is giving away vouchers of partners (Segmüller, Vinopolis, and others). Fans can nominate citizens which deserve a “thank you” for their solidarity during the crisis in their daily work.
2) Digital donation platform: The club has initiated the website ww.augsburghältzusammen2020.de (augsburgstickstogether2020) to provide financial support to local companies (restaurants, pubs, etc.).
3) Free drinks for care workers: Together with their drinks partner Riegele, the club offered a “drive in” service for care workers in the car park of the WWK Arena, whereby workers were able to take up to two crates of water or Spezi, or one crate of beer free of charge.
4) Food bank: FCA is supporting the Augsburg food bank with staff, logistics and food donations so that the food bank is able to reopen.
5) T-Shirt sales to raise money for charity: The FCA online shop will begin selling T-Shirts supporting the slogan #augsburghältzusammen2020 at a price of €15,95. All proceeds will be donated to charity.
- 1. FC Union Berlin
1) Gift fence: The club is officially supporting and promoting community initiatives, such as the “gift fence” (German: Gabenzaun). The fence serves as central contact point in the immediate vicinity of Union for the delivery and collection of food, clothing or hygiene articles of all kinds.
2) Fan initiatives: The club is highlighting and promoting fan initiatives, including from Union Ultras fan sections on its website. One example for such an initiative is the production, collection and distribution of fan-made masks to people who need them within the Union family.
- Hertha BSC
1) Hertha fan group: The club is promoting the Facebook group “Herthaner helfen” (Hertha fans help) where fans offer any kind of support for their fellow community members, including grocery shopping, parcel delivery etc.
2) Charity: Together with LVL, the new eSports hub in Berlin, the Hertha BSC eSports academy organised a charity live stream, using the funds raised to support care workers in Berlin. Together with EDEKA, Hertha BSC esports academy partner, care packages will be put together and delivered to hospital employees. The club already started delivering such packages on 06 April, with employees and managing directors Ingo Schiller and Paul Keuter taking part.
- SV Werder Bremen
1) #STAYATHOME jersey: The club, along with main sponsor WIESENHOF, are selling a special-edition jersey in order to support local charitable causes. Werder Bremen are donating €5 from the sale of every shirt to the social services organisation, which offers assistance to those in dire need. The initiative has resulted in a first donation of 20,000 EUR.
2) Offering support to the elderly: Players, club employees and club managers participated in the phone initiative and called over-70s (supporters and ticket members) to offer support to those, which are alone during the crisis.
- BVB Borussia Dortmund
1) Digital matchday: Fans were asked to donate a small amount to the pubs and restaurants they might attend on a normal match day. BVB fans raised 73,611 EUR on the first digital matchday.
2) BVB foundation fundraising campaign: The BVB foundation ”leuchte auf” has launched a special fundraising campaign (e.g. through sales of special support t-shirts). It will support charitable organisations and initiatives that are particularly impacted by the effects of the pandemic, undertaking research into the virus and committed to working towards the good health of all people in society.
3) Signal Iduna Park: The club will make Germany’s largest football stadium available to help the fight against the coronavirus with immediate effect. The new treatment centre will provide medical care – for coronavirus patients and suspected cases, as well as for patients experiencing related complaints.
- Fortuna Düsseldorf
1) Fan initiatives: The club is highlighting and promoting fan initiatives. One example for such an initiative is the collection of goods for homeless people with the “Gutenachtbus” (“Good night bus”), which provides homeless with essentials as more and more charitable entities need to close down during the coronavirus pandemic.
- Eintracht Frankfurt
1) Delivery service for members: The club is offering food delivery for club members within Frankfurt who are considered as a “risk group.”
2) Support platform: Digital platform www.in-eintracht-helfen.de, where fans can offer financial support to local companies in Frankfurt, including restaurants, clubs, shops. pubs, cultural and social institutions of any kind. Financial support can be acquired as vouchers (for a time after corona) or donations.
- SC Freiburg
o 1) Support platform: Digital platform www.mehr-als-fussball.de, where fans can offer financial support to local companies in Freiburg, including restaurants, clubs, shops. pubs, cultural and social institutions of any kind. The initiative is organized in collaboration with the crowd-funding platform GoFundMe.
- VfL Wolfsburg
1) Mask donations: VfL Wolfsburg and its pharmacy partner Mickefett delivered 100,000 masks to the City of Wolfsburg. The Wolves are currently working to organise a further, larger quantity of masks for Wolfsburg and the region through the VfL office in China and its Chinese partners.
2) Players in supermarkets: As part of the “Thanking the everyday heroes” initiative, six VfL players were on duty at two Edeka supermarkets in Wolfsburg, helping to stack the shelves. The Edeka supermarkets initiative is part of the social activities in Wolfsburg and the surrounding area that VfL is currently supporting and implementing, both now and over the coming weeks, as part of their #heretohelp campaign.
3) Keeping in touch: VfL Wolfsburg has provided the AWO residential care home in Wolfsburg with tablets, so that the residents can keep in touch with their loved ones via video calls.
- FC Schalke 04
1) Baking for the elderly: S04 Keeper Markus Schubert supported the elderly care centre Johanniter-Stift Gelsenkirchen by baking and delivering home-made muffins to care workers and residents.
2) “Kumpelkiste”: Together with Ultras Gelsenkirchen the club organised the delivery of so called “Kumpelkisten” (eng: buddy boxes) filled with clothes for the Italian fan group Curva Sud Siberiano from Salerno, Italy. The boxes shall support the fan group’s own initiative to protects and care for risk groups in their hometown.
- FC Bayern München
1) Mia gehn Online: The club supported “Mia Gehn Online!” (eng: we move to online), a local initiative set up by the City of Munich and its partners to develop digital solutions for small and medium sized companies in the region.
- Borussia Monchengladbach
1) #FohlenSkills Home Training: Youth coaches teach football exercises in a series of YouTube videos that children can try out at home whilst their football training is paused, and public football pitches are closed. Furthermore, the club offers free training plans for youth coaches of regional partner clubs.
- 1. FSV Mainz 05
1) Helping risk groups: Together with fans and volunteers the club has set up a team to support community members which need help in the current situation e.g. with grocery shopping, getting medicine or social/emotional support via phone.
2) Hero ticket: Season ticket holders and fans who have already purchased a day ticket for a pending home match of the season can make these tickets available to those who are working tirelessly to serve the public in these difficult times. In addition, all those who wish to express their solidarity and gratitude can also purchase their own Heroes Ticket or Bratwurst/beer vouchers to round off their future visit to the stadium.
- Bayer 04 Leverkusen
1) Easter initiative: The club surprised 2,400 employees of the hospital in Leverkusen (Leverkusener Klinikum) with chocolate bunnies to thank them for their work during the pandemic.
- RB Leipzig
1) Easter initiative: The club delivered chocolate bunnies to several institutions to thank them for their work during the pandemic, including the Leipzig Children’s Hospital and the children’s home in Leipzig-Grünau.
2) Support platform: Digital platform www.wiralle-rbl.com (eng: we are all RBL) through which fans can offer or ask for help within the community.
- 1. FC Köln
1) Helping hands: The club is promoting a banner by the German supermarket chain Penny on its website, encouraging helpers to support the market in the current crisis. (Banner: “Helfende Hände gesucht” )
2) Easter initiative: The club delivered chocolate bunnies to children’s hospitals in Cologne to raise spirits for patients and employees during the crisis.
3) Food bank: The club has started a project to improve the food supply of the local food bank “Tafel”, while also providing financial support.
4) Supporting homeless: Employees of the club joined the initiative “Freunde der Kölner Straßen und ihrer Bewohner“ (eng: friends of Cologne’s streets and their inhabitants) and distributed care packages, equipped with food, hygiene products, information on assistance during the corona crisis, vouchers for a warm meal as well as sleeping bags and insulating mats.
5) Disinfectants: In cooperation with fans and club members, the club handed over 500 liters of disinfectants, which are much in demand in the fight against the corona virus, to the city’s Corona Crisis Committee.
- TSG Hoffenheim
1) Fans for fans: TSG Hoffenheim is encouraging fans to support members of their fan ommunity during the corona crisis. Together with a team of helpers, the club will assist fans, who are in quarantine or belong to certain risk groups. (e.g. grocery shopping, dog walking, etc.)