Germany honored sports clubs that openly stand up for democratic values
The German Sports Youth and the Federal Chancellery presented the "Sport mit Haltung" awards in Berlin, a distinction intended for sports clubs that, in their everyday work, stand up for democratic values, social cohesion and human dignity. According to an announcement by Deutsche Sportjugend, the awards were presented on Tuesday evening, 19 May 2026, as part of the "Sport mit starker Stimme!" event, and this year's edition was the second one. The main message of the award ceremony was that sports clubs in Germany are no longer seen only as places of competition and recreation, but also as important spaces for education, encounters and public commitment against extremism, racism, antisemitism and other forms of group-focused hostility.
The first prize and 10,000 euros went to the football section of the club ESV Olympia Köln e.V., which, according to the jury's explanation, was recognized for its open club culture and long-term work against misanthropy and discrimination. The second prize, worth 5,000 euros, went to the club Cheer & Dance e.V. Waldheim for the project "Act2Impact – Sport prägt Haltung", while third place and 3,000 euros were won by Berlin's SV Blau Weiss Berolina Mitte 49 e.V. The total prize fund amounted to 18,000 euros, and according to the organizers' announcement, the winners were chosen by an interdisciplinary jury composed of representatives of sport, science, civil society and politics.
First prize for the football section from Cologne
ESV Olympia Köln was awarded for the work carried out in the club under the slogan "Willkommen im Gleisdreieck". This is an approach that seeks to turn the football pitch into an open space of encounter, responsibility and the everyday defense of democratic values. According to Deutsche Sportjugend, the jury particularly emphasized the fact that the club's commitment is not reduced to occasional campaigns or symbolic messages, but is embedded in the working structure of the football section. The organizers state that the club has a concept for the protection of children and young people, an anti-discrimination guide, designated contact persons, regular training for players, coaches and referees, and clear channels for reporting problems.
Such a model shows how values such as respect, safety, inclusion and responsibility can be implemented in routine situations, from training sessions and matches to communication with parents, spectators and the local community. The explanation emphasizes that the club does not see sport only as a space of encounter, but also as a space of social responsibility. This is important because it is precisely in amateur and youth sport that habits of behavior are often created that go beyond the game itself. The way in which conflicts are resolved, insults are responded to or children and young people are protected from exclusion can have long-term consequences for club culture and the wider community.
Tobias Thomas, director of the football section of ESV Olympia Köln, stated, according to the organizers' announcement, that the prize money will help secure further engagement and future projects. He particularly emphasized the need for human resources and external expertise, which is a frequent difficulty in clubs that rely to a large extent on volunteer work. Thomas added that the recognition is also important as a confirmation of the club culture and said that football is more than a game for them and can leave a positive and lasting mark on society. This placed the emphasis on the practical side of the award: the money is not only a symbol, but an instrument that enables clubs to continue their work.
Second and third place for youth projects and an open sports space
The second prize was awarded to the club Cheer & Dance e.V. Waldheim, whose project "Act2Impact – Sport prägt Haltung" was launched in 2025. According to information from Deutsche Sportjugend, the project is aimed at integrating democratic values into training and the everyday work of the club. The "young people for young people" approach was particularly highlighted, whereby responsibility for a culture of dialogue and respect is not left only to boards and coaches, but young members are actively involved in it. In sports organizations this can be especially important because young people often more easily accept messages that come from their peers than those formulated as formal rules by adults.
Third place went to the club SV Blau Weiss Berolina Mitte 49 e.V. from Berlin. According to the organizers' announcement, the jury rewarded the club's ability, despite predominantly volunteer structures, to maintain a sports field in the center of Berlin as an open meeting place. The explanation states that democratic values there are not presented only as a principled obligation, but are lived through everyday practice and through active confrontation with conflicts. Such an approach is especially demanding in urban environments where different social groups, generations, life experiences and identities often meet in sports spaces.
The awards were given to clubs that operate in different sports and local contexts, but they are connected by the effort to organize sport as an inclusive and safe space. In doing so, the organizers sent the message that democratic engagement in sport does not belong only to large associations, representative campaigns or professional competitions. On the contrary, local clubs are often the first to recognize problems and have the most direct contact with children, young people, parents, fans and volunteers. That is why their procedures, training and public messages are important for creating resilience against discrimination and extremist ideologies.
The award as part of a federal program against extremism in sport
The club award "Sport mit Haltung" is part of a broader federal and preventive program against extremism and misanthropy in sport. According to Deutsche Sportjugend, the program has been implemented since 2023, is financed by the Federal Chancellery, and is carried out by Deutsche Sportjugend and the Bundesinstitut für Sportwissenschaft. Dr. Christiane Schenderlein, Minister of State for Sport and Volunteering, stated at the event that since 2023 Germany has been allocating one million euros annually for this program and that more than 150 projects have been supported so far. According to her, the willingness of athletes and sports organizations to take a stand is great, but it needs visibility, financial support and political backing.
The program is focused on the specific features of the sports environment, which distinguishes it from general programs of political education or prevention of extremism. Sports clubs have their own dynamics: a strong sense of belonging, a hierarchy between coaches and athletes, pressure for results, fan cultures, changing rooms, travel and everyday informal relationships. It is precisely in such environments that discriminatory messages can sometimes be normalized as jokes, tradition or "part of the game". On the other hand, sport has a major advantage because it brings together people who otherwise would not meet and makes it possible for norms of respect, solidarity and responsibility to be learned through shared practice, not only through lectures.
Schenderlein said that sport is not an isolated space. This formulation is important because in public debates sport is sometimes presented as an area separated from social and political conflicts. However, cases of racism, antisemitism, sexism, homophobia, violence or pressure from extremist groups show that tensions from society can also be transferred onto sports fields. According to the organizers' message, the aim of the program is not to align sport with a party, but to defend fundamental democratic values and human dignity. Within that framework, the awarded clubs are presented as examples of organizations that do not wait for problems to develop, but build clear standards of behavior in advance.
"Sport mit starker Stimme!" brought together sport, politics and science
The award ceremony was held as part of the two-day format "Sport mit starker Stimme!", which, according to Deutsche Sportjugend's announcement, was organized in Berlin with the participation of the Federal Chancellery and the Bundesinstitut für Sportwissenschaft. The event was dedicated to the defense of democracy, visible commitment against extremism and strengthening diversity in sport. Alongside political and sports representatives, experts from science and civil society also participated in the program. The organizers state that former Bundesliga footballer, coach and president of the initiative "ROOTS – Against Racism in Sports" Otto Addo delivered a keynote lecture on sport as a strong voice of democracy.
According to the announcement, Christiane Schenderlein, Prof. Dr. Ulrike Burrmann from Humboldt University in Berlin, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung sports correspondent Christian Kamp, elite athlete Leo Köpp and sports scientist Younis Kamil participated in the discussion. The topic was the role of clubs and associations in strengthening democratic culture and resilience against anti-democratic attitudes. The evening program was followed by a workshop day for around 80 participants from sports clubs and associations from all over Germany. The workshops dealt with the prevention and suppression of extremism, racism and antisemitism, as well as democratic education in a sports context.
Such a combination of an award ceremony, public discussion and practical workshops shows that the organizers do not see the recognition as a one-off ceremony. According to the program description, the goal is to transfer experiences and scientific insights into club practice, that is, to help organizations create concrete procedures for the situations they encounter. This includes questions of how to respond to a discriminatory incident, how to protect young members, how to conduct a conversation with parents or fans, how to set rules for public appearances and how to avoid value-based positions being reduced to declarations without implementation.
DOSB and dsj emphasized that sport is not socially neutral
A few days before the award ceremony, DOSB and Deutsche Sportjugend published a revised joint position on dealing with anti-democratic and misanthropic parties, groups and actors. According to the Deutsche Sportjugend announcement of 18 May 2026, organized sport in Germany renewed its position that it stands for respect, fairness and open togetherness and that it decisively opposes anti-democratic and dehumanizing attitudes and actions. According to the organization, the document emphasizes that sport is neutral in party-political terms, but not socio-politically neutral when it comes to democracy, human dignity and protection against discrimination.
DOSB President Thomas Weikert said, according to the announcement, that sports clubs are places of encounter and cohesion and that precisely for that reason they must be clear when the fundamental democratic values of sport are attacked. Benny Folkmann from Deutsche Sportjugend emphasized that sport must not allow itself to be divided and that it will defend its democratic values jointly and decisively. The announcement states that the new position, compared with the 2020 version, responds more directly to social changes and issues faced by clubs and associations on the ground. The document was supplemented with a catalogue of measures and explanations of terms to make practical application easier for clubs.
Such a framework gives broader meaning to the "Sport mit Haltung" award. The recognition is not an isolated project, but part of an effort to more clearly define the boundaries of acceptable behavior in organized sport and to provide support to clubs when they enforce those boundaries. This is especially important for volunteer structures, where responsible persons often do not have the legal, pedagogical or communication support available to professional institutions. When a club receives a clear framework from national sports organizations, it can more easily explain to members, parents or the public why it reacts to hate speech, exclusion or attempts to politically instrumentalize sports space.
Local clubs as the first line of social responsibility
Germany has an extensive network of sports clubs and a strong tradition of organized sport. According to the portal Deutschland.de, around 27 million people in Germany are members of approximately 90,000 sports clubs. This figure shows why sport is often described as one of the most important spaces of civil society. Clubs are not only places for physical activity, but also networks of encounter, volunteering, learning rules, accepting defeat, cooperation and responsibility. When a culture of respect is systematically built in them, the effect can go beyond sporting results themselves.
In this context, the awards also have a communication function. They show other clubs that engagement against discrimination and extremism is not a secondary activity, but part of responsible management of a sports organization. At the same time, they warn that such work cannot permanently rely only on the enthusiasm of individuals. Education, clear procedures, time, expert assistance and financial support are needed. Precisely for that reason, the organizers' statements about the continuation and stabilization of the federal program are important for clubs that want to develop longer-term mechanisms, rather than only react after individual incidents.
The award ceremony in Berlin was held at a time when Germany and other European societies are increasingly discussing the role of institutions, schools, associations and sports organizations in defending democratic culture. Sport has a special position here because it reaches a very wide circle of people and because for many young people it represents the first form of organized participation outside school and family. The awarded clubs showed that democratic values can be implemented through concrete decisions: from the protection of children and young people, through anti-discrimination guides and training, to clear reactions to conflicts. In this way, the "Sport mit Haltung" award confirms that having a stance in sport is not only a public statement, but an everyday practice.
Sources:
- Deutsche Sportjugend – announcement on the winners of the "Sport mit Haltung" 2026 award and explanation of the awards (link)
- Deutsche Sportjugend – report from the "Sport mit starker Stimme!" event and statements by Christiane Schenderlein, Benny Folkmann and other participants (link)
- Deutsche Sportjugend – announcement on the revised position of DOSB and dsj on dealing with anti-democratic and misanthropic actors in sport (link)
- German Federal Government – official profile of Minister of State for Sport and Volunteering Christiane Schenderlein (link)
- Deutschland.de – overview of facts about sport in Germany and the number of members of sports clubs (link)