Santa Susanna, Spain As part of the DFB and KOMM MIT soccer hero education trip, around 250 young youth soccer coaches and directors were honored. Young referees are also represented in the DFB's official “Year of Shiris”. The event is part of the “Young Volunteering” campaign and sees itself as a “thank you” for your previous commitment and as a motivation for further activities in the association. The continuing education aspect on site plays a central role.

The two DFB Vice Presidents Peter Frymuth and Ronny Zimmermann welcomed the volunteers at the start of the five-day event. “With this award, we want to make a contribution to further motivating and promoting people who are committed to soccer at a young age,” said Peter Frymuth at the beginning of the event. Mads Buttgereit, coach of the national team for standards and Bundesliga referee Robert Schröder, are also on site to underline the particular importance of volunteer work for sport and society. For the first time, DKMS is also part of the soccer hero educational trip to raise awareness of the need for stem cell donations and to highlight the importance of registration with its eponymous project “DKMS soccer heroes”.

A team of speakers from the national soccer associations enables volunteers to deepen their (soccer) knowledge in demanding theoretical and practical units and to bring new things to their home clubs. A day trip to Barcelona with a visit to FC Barcelona's “Camp Nou” stadium rounds off the soccer hero education trip 2023. Other special speakers include the national coach of the national futsal team, Marcel Loosveld. He will give volunteers interesting insights into his work on Friday morning.

Philipp Reinartz, managing director of KOMM MIT, adds: “Club life at the grassroots level must also be secured for future generations. With our support, as a cooperation partner of the DFB, we would like to do our part to ensure that young volunteers receive thanks for their commitment at an early stage and remain motivated to volunteer.”

Because of their volunteer work in children's and youth soccer, soccer heroes are a mainstay in their clubs and at the grassroots level of German amateur soccer. The “Young Volunteering” campaign supports young, committed youth soccer coaches and managers in order to recognize their work and give them the opportunity to continue their education. The “Fußball-Helden-Bildungsreise” project has been implemented by the DFB and KOMM MIT since 2015.