THANKFULLY not all Europeans are following Hungary's political leadership's example when it comes to welcoming and accepting refugees. German football (soccer) teams are active in supporting the refugees, welcoming them to Germany, and integrating them in German society while working against German neo-nazi right wing extremist. This is not a result of the picture of Aylan Kurdi being published around the world, German football has been involved with the refugees for the past few years. God Bless the German football leagues and their fans! From +Huffington Post .....
Famed German Soccer Club Donates $1 Million To New Refugees
Bayern Munich wants to be "a symbol for the integration of refugees."
Posted: 09/04/2015 12:07 PM EDT
BERLIN (AP) -- A training camp for migrant children. A $1.1 million donation. German lessons.
Those are a few of the things German soccer
club Bayern Munich is doing to help some of the thousands of migrants
who are arriving in the country after fleeing war and poverty in Syria
and other troubled nations.
Other German soccer teams have also been at the forefront in preaching acceptance of the new arrivals.
"At a difficult time for these people, this
is a small contribution to distract from daily life," German club Mainz
said on its website after inviting migrants to attend matches.
Bayern appears to be leading the way,
however. The club, among the biggest and richest in Europe, said
Thursday it would donate 1 million euros ($1.1 million) to refugee
projects and put on a training camp that would give children and
adolescents German lessons, meals, and soccer equipment.
And at their next home game on Sept. 12, the
team's star players will walk out onto the field holding hands with a
German child on one side and a migrant child on the other.
Bayern said it would be "a symbol for the integration of refugees."
Germany is witnessing an unprecedented surge
of asylum seekers this year. About 800,000 migrants are expected to
arrive in 2015, a fourfold increase from last year, and soccer
supporters have long been displaying messages of solidarity. Banners
with "Refugees welcome" have been a common sight at Bundesliga games.
More than 2,000 migrants arrived by train in
Munich on Tuesday, when police said they were "overwhelmed" by donations
from residents.
Germany's national team, which won the World
Cup in Brazil last year, has also gotten involved. Jerome Boateng, Ilkay
Gundogan, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Mesut Ozil and Toni Kroos appeared in
a video Wednesday to promote respect and tolerance.
Mainz invited 200 migrants to last week's
game, and 400 more are expected for the club's next home game on Sept.
18. Second-division club Bielefeld made 500 tickets available for its
home game against Heidenheim. According to the club, all were snapped up
within two hours.
In Dortmund, where the club has been involved
in a long-running battle against far-right extremism among some of its
own supporters, some fans have been welcoming migrants for years. The
club recently invited 220 migrants from the local "Angekommen" (Arrived)
support initiative to watch a Europa League qualifier against Norwegian
club Odds BK.
While many migrants looking for a better life
are attracted to Dortmund, set in the heartland of the industrial Ruhr
area, the city also serves as a focal point for neo-Nazis in the state
of North Rhine-Westphalia.
The club, Borussia Dortmund, has taken
several measures to curb right-wing violence and promote tolerance,
including its "No Beer for Racists" campaign. The club has also
countered the suggestion that Germany can't afford any more migrants.
"Germany is one of the largest and most
prosperous countries in Europe," Dortmund wrote on its website. "If you
put the asylum applications in relation to the population, Germany is
only 10th on the list within Europe."
Rival Bundesliga clubs Hannover and Schalke,
and lower-level teams including Fortuna Duesseldorf and Dynamo Dresden,
have also taken part in initiatives for migrants. And the generosity
isn't restricted to football - handball team HSG Wetzlar made 100
tickets available to migrants for each of its first two home league
games of the season.
Babelsberg, a third-division soccer club
based in Berlin, founded a team made entirely of migrants last year.
"Welcome United," as the fan-funded team is called, will play its first
season in Berlin's lower league this year.
"We want people to be welcome, regardless of
why they had to leave their homes," Babelsberg says. "We believe every
human being can be an asset to society."
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