SPIELRAUM to become a recognised Common Goal program

Following in the footsteps of Danish first-tier side FC Nordsjaelland and Oakland Roots SC, Werder are the third, and so far biggest, professional club to join the movement. “The partnership with Common Goal is a milestone, a historic moment, in our involvement in social initiatives, of which we are very proud,” said Klaus Filbry, CEO of SV Werder. Filbry has been a member of Common Goal himself since 2019, and continues to donate 1% of his income to the charitable project. “Having the SPIELRAUM concept be included as a certified and grant-worthy program under the Common Goal umbrella makes this partnership an absolute win-win situation for both sides,” added Dr. Hubertus Hess-Grunewald, the club’s president and also a Common Goal member.

Common Goal was co-founded by World and European champion Juan Mata, and many other players and coaches from the footballing community have since pledged their support for the initiative, including Serge Gnabry, Paula Dybala, Giorgio Chiellini, Jürgen Klopp and Pernille Harder. By donating 1% of their annual salaries to the cause, Common Goal is able to support local projects aimed at promoting gender equality, LGBTQ+ rights, peace, anti-racism initiatives or the development of children and youth in over 151 organisations worldwide. Common Goal have set the aim of helping 100 million young people around the world get out of poverty by 2030. The social initiative also adheres to the 17 sustainable development goals set out by the United Nations.

Jürgen Griesbeck, CEO of streetfootballworld and co-founder of Common Goal, had this to say about Werder Bremen joining the movement: “[It’s a] significant step in Common Goal’s mission to anchor social development in the DNA of professional football.” He added, “Werder Bremen have been a role model in German football for many years and have led in way in terms of their social responsibility. We share the belief that football has an important role to play in society and that we will only be able to master the societal challenges we are confronted with nowadays if we do it together. The fact that Werder Bremen are the first professional club in Germany to join the Common Goal movement shows that social engagement at the local club level can work hand-in-hand with the global perspective of Common Goal.”

Germany international Serge Gnabry, who played for Werder in 2016/17, was an early supporter of Common Goal, who now count over 200 professional players and coaches as their patrons. Gnabry commented on his former club’s decision to join the movement, saying “It’s fantastic to see Werder Bremen become the first Bundesliga club to join the Common Goal movement. Nearly five years ago, when this initiative first launched with the support of us players and coaches, we had hoped to reach as many influential people from the footballing community as possible and to inspire them to want to commit 1% of their wages to social initiatives. To have Werder Bremen become the third professional football club to now also join the movement, is just fantastic.”

Over the course of a months-long process, the SPIELRAUM concept was closely studied and needed to prove its adherence to certain standards in order to join the collective. The 13 SPIELRAUM locations in Bremen and Bremerhaven, as well as the planned SPIELRAUM locations in Lower Saxony, will now be able to receive support from Common Goal members such as Mats Hummels and Timo Werner in the future. Every member has the ability to decide which projects they wish to support. “In addition to the financial support for SPIELRAUM, it’s also about having our concept be internationally recognised. We want to continue to spread the word about the importance of giving children and youth the ability to be active 365 days a year in their local communities,” said Anne-Kathrin Laufmann, Werder’s director of CSR.