Sustainable development, gender equality and fair play in football: these are the key issues that the Spirit of Football e.V. focuses on. The NGO, which has already been active with its workshops on six continents and in over 50 countries, visited Cambodia at the end of March as part of its educational project “One Ball, One World”. As a symbolic Olympic torch of football, “The Ball” is currently crossing various countries this year before reaching it’s final destination – the 2023 Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

Along the way, Spirit of Football organised a two-day workshop in the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh, in cooperation with the US Embassy and partner organisations Indochina Starfish Foundation (ISF), Compost City and Comped. BVB, represented by Julia Farr (head of Asia Pacific internationalisation for Borussia Dortmund), also participated on site with a keynote speech on the topics of sustainability, diversity and inclusion at Borussia Dortmund. There were also practical exercises and activities with coaches, teachers and over 30 girls from the ISF – with a focus on team building, trying out different roles and fair play.

Background

Last August, Spirit of Football e.V. visited BVB and ran a series of workshops on topics such as climate protection and fair play with employees from the BVB Evonik Football Academy and various other departments at the club. Their two-day visit was brought to a successful conclusion with the signing of the SDG ball and the accompanying individual and collective climate pledges.

The Spirit of Football e.V., founded in Erfurt in 2005, promotes open-mindedness and diversity and combats all forms of exclusion and discrimination. The centrepiece of their educational work is “The Ball’s” journey to World Cup tournaments. Since 2002, more than 40,000 people have been inspired through the universal language of football and its intercultural power.

More information on the NGO can be found on the organisation’s website as well as the 2018 Netflix documentary ”Spirit of the Ball”.