Last Saturday, the Mehmet Kubaşık Cup was held for the second time in Dortmund’s Nordstadt district. Before the Bundesliga home match against Borussia Mönchengladbach, the winning team and the Dortmund Nordstadtliga were honoured at the side of the pitch.

At the same time, there was a memorial for Dortmund kiosk owner Mehmet Kubaşık, whose family were present in the stadium and also took part in the ceremony. 17 years ago, Kubaşık was shot dead in his kiosk on Mallinckrodtstraße by members of the far-right terror group National Socialist Underground.   

In memory of Mehmet Kubaşık, the Nordstadtliga and his family launched the Cup in 2022. This year, it was held as an under-17s tournament, which saw twelve teams playing at a high level down to an eventual winner. 

Mehmet Kubaşık loved his city and football. He was a big fan of Borussia Dortmund. He once uttered the legendary sentence: “Heute spielt Heimat, heute spielt Dortmund.” (Today my hometown are playing, today Dortmund are playing)

The Nordstadtliga is a lighthouse project of the BVB Foundation “leuchte auf”. You can support the Foundation and its projects here.