A delegation of the City of Bremen travelled to South Africa last week, accompanied by SV Werder Bremen. The delegation from the Hanseatic city visited a wide range of local institutions such as BORDA and a sports centre modelled on the Bremen Sportgarten in a village in iSithumba.
The Bremen delegation, made up of representatives from local politics, business and sport to name a few, planned an itinerary to visit businesses, clubs and NGOs in Durban, South Africa, partner city of Bremen. Dominik Kupilas, head of fan and business development at SV Werder Bremen, represented the club and visited BORDA (a committee for Bremen’s overseas research and development), an organisation which is campaigning to improve water and energy supply standards.
This was not SV Werder’s first encounter with BORDA. Last year, the Green-Whites implemented a mutual project in the target market of Vietnam. “It was important for us to visit BORDA so that we could speak about possible starting points in South Africa. The project which we set up in Hai Phong in November 2023 clearly illustrates that the affected regions particularly benefit when forces are combined,” commented Dominik Kupilas.
As part of the delegation, SV Werder, whose presence in South Africa also saw them take on an ambassadorial role on behalf of the Bundesliga, visited the village of iSithumba the next day, where a sports centre modelled on the facility in the Pauliner Marsch in Bremen was constructed in 2008. Together with Hanns-Ulrich Barde, co-founder of Sportgarten e.V. Bremen, and mayor of Bremen Dr. Andreas Bovenschulte, Kupilas did more than just hand out Werder jerseys to the children of the village. Their visit was also the official kick-off for the Football Development Programme, during which Werder led hybrid training sessions for the local young people. In addition, the local coach was given further training as part of an intensive coaching clinic. SVW plan to organise 15 additional digital sessions by spring 2025, which will support both the team and the coaches.
“The Football Development Programme and the further training of the coaches aims to curate a structured training programme for players and coaches alike, help them reach the next level, bring people together and convey certain values. It’s unbelievable to see how grateful the children and young people are, and just how much they have during training. These families live in difficult conditions, which means sport is an important anchor in their lives and a real escape. Therefore, we’re proud to have been able to make a small contribution to improve their lives,” added Kupilas.
