In August 2026, six coaches with refugee experience completed a five-day training course with FFWU & Borussia Mönchengladbach – before going on to lead a three-day holiday camp for 84 children together with BMG coaches.
A New Pilot Project With Borussia Mönchengladbach
“Together Through Football – A Holiday Camp for New Perspectives” is a joint pilot project by FFWU and Borussia Mönchengladbach, funded with 7,500 euros by the DFL Stiftung. There is no shortage of football holiday camps. What’s rare, however, is a camp that deliberately brings together people from very different social and cultural backgrounds. That’s exactly what this project set out to test.
The Training: Sharing Goals for Coaches With Refugee Experience
Before stepping onto the pitch, the coaches with refugee experience completed a five-day training course based on FFWU’s Sharing Goals methodology. This isn’t just about football technique. Just as important are the educational, language, and organisational basics of working with children. Ten participants were planned. In the end, six completed the course – two experienced FFWU coaches stepped in so the camp team was complete.
“You see how excited and eager the kids are, how they look up to you as a coach. That gives you confidence too – you realise you can actually teach the kids something and help them grow.”
— Coach, Together Through Football 2026The Holiday Camp: Tandems of BMG and New Coaches
At the camp, the newly trained coaches paired up in fixed tandems with four coaches from the Fohlen-Akademie. In total, 84 children took part: 50 places were reserved, free of charge, for children with refugee or migration experience, while 34 further places went to children already registered for BMG’s regular camp programme. A highlight for everyone was the shared visit to Borussia-Park.
“The camp was cool, but also a bit tough. Sixty to eighty kids aren’t easy to manage – but along the way I got to know a lot of different characters.”
— Coach, Together Through Football 2026A Special Moment: Coaching Solo for the First Time
For many of the coaches, this was the first time they had led a session entirely on their own. Beforehand, most of them had been teammates on the pitch rather than the ones leading it.
“I’d never worked alone as a coach before, I was always more of a player myself. Today was a special day: I led the kids all on my own.”
— Coach, Together Through Football 2026Other coaches spoke about how much new football vocabulary and how many new drills they picked up during the course.
What the Camp Meant for the Kids
For the children taking part, just getting access to this camp was something special: they got to walk out into the stadium and train on the Fohlen-Akademie’s real pitches – an experience that’s usually out of reach for most.
“The camp was a wonderful, enriching experience for my children. What really convinced us was the great commitment, the excellent supervision, and the varied activities. We’re thoroughly happy and would recommend the camp to anyone, any time.”
— Ahmed, father of a camp participantChild protection was a high priority throughout the project, as always – enhanced background checks for all coaches with contact to children, and FFWU’s publicly available child protection policy, were a firm part of the project.
Honest Learnings
Of course, not everything goes to plan with a pilot project. Instead of the ten planned coaches with refugee experience, only six were ultimately able to commit to the full training and camp period. Reaching families with refugee or migration experience about the free camp offer through the usual social media channels was only possible to a limited extent. Partnering with local integration and social organisations was therefore essential – though that takes real effort and needs a long lead time. Marketing and communication for the camp started relatively late, which meant that not all 100 camp places could be filled in the end. A longer lead time will be important for future editions too.
Looking Ahead
Despite the rocky start, the response was positive. All six coaches rated the support they received from the course as “very strong,” and camp participants gave it an overall satisfaction score of 89.6%. FFWU and Borussia Mönchengladbach are interested in repeating the project next year, and early conversations are already underway about expanding the model to other regions and clubs too.
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“Together Through Football” is a pilot project by Football For Worldwide Unity e.V. (FFWU) in partnership with Borussia Mönchengladbach, funded by the DFL Stiftung. For more information or to support the programme, visit www.ffwu.org/support.