On Wednesday, SV Werder representatives began their visit to South Africa alongside a delegation from the City of Bremen. This included Mayor Dr. Andreas Bovenschulte among other figures from the fields of politics, business, science, culture, sport and civil society.
During the first few days of the trip, which is scheduled to last until 30th September 2024, the delegation will visit the city of Durban. Along with Bremen, the two port cities have been officially twinned for 25 years, which has led to various collaborations in the fields of sport, music, youth development, science and art, including a climate partnership. In addition, a tripartite agreement was signed between the Hanseatic City of Bremen, the City of Durban and the Namibian capital Windhoek.
“South Africa is one of our international target markets. This trip to Durban gives us the opportunity to cultivate existing contacts, gain further exciting insights and initiate planned activities and collaborations. We are therefore very pleased to be part of this delegation and to be visiting South Africa for the first time since 2019,” said Dominik Kupilas, Werder’s head of fan and business development, as well as SVW’s on site ambassador during the visit, responsible for the Green-Whites’ international directive. The trip will also serve to raise the profile of the Bundesliga in South Africa with Werder acting as the official representative.
In addition to a tour of the harbour in Durban, a visit to BORDA (a committee for Bremen’s overseas research and development) is also on the agenda – an organisation dedicated to improving standards in areas such as water and energy supply. Along with the Bremen Economic Development Corporation (WFB), SVW already assisted the implementation of a project with BORDA in Hai Phong, Vietnam in 2023.
The group will also visit the village of iSithumba. Together with young people from Durban, a sports centre modelled on the Bremen Sportgarten was established there in 2008. A coaching training programme is set to take place there for local coaches as well as a training session held with a local U15 team as part of the Football Development Programme.
To round off his time in South Africa, Kupilas will travel to Cape Town. In addition to the Hout Bay United Football Community (HBUFC), he will also visit an AMANDLA safe-hub, which has several locations in South Africa and is a Bundesliga co-operation partner. In 2019, SVW visited the safe-hub in the Johannesburg township of Diepsloot as part of their winter training camp in South Africa.
“We are very pleased with the impacts that these two exciting initiatives have had. The aim is to identify joint potential for cooperation,” explained Kupilas.
