The DFL Foundation (german: DFL Stiftung) is a charitable foundation dedicated to social projects. It was founded in January 2009 by the
Deutsche Fußball Liga
The DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga GmbH, or simply Deutsche Fußball Liga ("German Football League"), and often shortened to DFL, is a wholly owned subsidiary of '' Die Liga – Fußballverband''. The DFL is responsible for entire operating business ...
and Die Liga – Fußballverband, under the name Bundesliga Foundation (german: Bundesliga-Stiftung). It is based in
Frankfurt
Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its ...
, and the current
CEO
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especiall ...
is Stefan Kiefer.
Purpose of the foundation
The DFL Foundation aims to use the popularity of German professional football and the
Bundesliga
The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footbal ...
to promote and support social projects. In addition to the commitment of individual professional footballers who have established their own foundations of this kind (for example Christoph Metzelder with the ''Christoph Metzelder Foundation'' or
Manuel Neuer
Manuel Peter Neuer (; born 27 March 1986) is a German professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper and captains both club Bayern Munich and the Germany national team. He is regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers in the history of ...
with his ''Manuel Neuer Kids Foundation'') and the foundations of Bundesliga clubs (such as the foundation
1. FC Köln
1. Fußball-Club Köln 01/07 e. V., commonly known as simply FC Köln () or FC Cologne in English, is a German professional football club based in Cologne in North Rhine-Westphalia. It was formed in 1948 as a merger of the clubs ''Kölner Ballsp ...
) or foundation from the
German Football Association
The German Football Association (german: Deutscher Fußball-Bund ; DFB ) is the governing body of Association football, football in Germany. A founding member of both FIFA and UEFA, the DFB has jurisdiction for the German football league system ...
(German: ''Deutscher Fussball-Bund'', DFB), the ''DFB-Kulturstiftung'' (DFB cultural Foundation), the foundation of the Bundesliga is, according to its statues, to promote the sport, education and international understanding. From this emerged four areas of focus: the foundation encourages children, supports people with disabilities, supports integration and promotes solidarity with other sports.
The foundation provides grants through application, but can also carry out their own projects and build partnerships.
Campaigns
In cooperation with the DFL, the most publicly successful campaign ''Sportler für Sportler'' (Athletes for Athletes) was developed in the spring of 2009. Through until 2010, TV commercials were broadcast in which well-known players and coaches from the Bundesliga and Olympic athletes from various sports, were shown asking for mutual support and calling on donations to the German Sports Aid.
The DFL Foundation also sponsors the junior elite support of the ''Deutsche Sporthilfe'' (German Sports Aid).
In July 2011, with the DFL-Supercup, the current major campaign started entitled ''Integration. Gelingt spielend.'' Through which nationwide advertising was made for the support of the integration of those with foreign origins. The football serves as a connecting element. Focus of the campaign, as for the ''Sportler für Sportler'' was a TV commercial with talented young players of the under-17 and under-19 teams and the Bundesliga players
Gerald Asamoah
Gerald Asamoah (; born 3 October 1978) is a German football manager and former professional player who works as the first-team manager of Schalke 04.
During his playing career, Asamoah played as a forward, and he was mainly known for his pace, h ...
,
Mario Götze
Mario Götze (born 3 June 1992) is a German professional footballer who plays for Bundesliga club Eintracht Frankfurt and the Germany national team. Although his favoured position is that of a playmaker, Götze has also played as a false ni ...
,
İlkay Gündoğan
İlkay Gündoğan (born 24 October 1990) is a German professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for club Manchester City and the Germany national team.
Gündoğan came through VfL Bochum's youth academy. In 2008, he began playing for th ...
and Sidney Sam. The music of the commercial was produced by
Wolfgang Niedecken
Wolfgang Niedecken (, ; born 30 March 1951) is a German singer and musician. He founded the Kölsch-speaking rock group BAP at the end of the 1970s and soon became famous with BAP all over Germany. He is the lead singer and only remaining foun ...
, singer of the band BAP.
In addition, dozens of smaller projects and campaigns from all four key working areas were promoted in recent years.
Capital resources and use
Main source of income of the foundation are the fines paid by the Bundesliga clubs for breach of licensing documents. Furthermore, funds flow into the foundation from fines pronounced by the
DFB Sports Court The DFB Sports Court ( German: DFB-Sportgericht) is a regulatory body in the German Football Association (german: Deutscher Fussball-Bund, DFB) and may adopt different sanctions on clubs and players.
History
Together with the Bundesliga, the DFB S ...
.
Bodies of the foundation
Executive board
* Stefan Kiefer (Chairman)
* Kurt Gaugler (Deputy Chairman)
* Jörg Degenhart
Foundation board
*
Reinhard Rauball
Reinhard Rauball (born 25 December 1946) is a German politician, member of the SPD, a trained lawyer, and football official. He is known for having served as president of football team Borussia Dortmund several times and also served very briefly ...
Peter Peters
Peter Peters Greek: Πανούτας Πετερίδης) (born 10 June 1947) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer, commentator and journalist.
Playing career
He was a first grade player for Parramatta (1967–68) and M ...
*
Wolfgang Niersbach
Wolfgang Niersbach (born 30 November 1950) is a German sports official and former sports journalist. From 2 March 2012 until 9 November 2015, he was President of the German Football Association (german: link=no, Deutscher Fußball-Bund, DFB).
Bio ...
Trustees
*
Fritz Pleitgen
Fritz Ferdinand Pleitgen (21 March 1938 – 15 September 2022) was a German television journalist and author. He was correspondent in Moscow, East Berlin and Washington. Pleitgen was a supporter of Willy Brandt's Ostpolitik. In 1988, Pleitgen b ...
(Chairman)
*
Klaus-Peter Müller
Klaus-Peter Müller (born 16 September 1944 in Duppach, Germany) was chairman of the supervisory board of Commerzbank until the annual general meeting on 8 May 2018.
Career
Klaus-Peter Müller is the son of Peter Müller, a former voluntary ...
(Deputy Chairman)
* Tom Bender
*
Heiner Brand
Heiner Brand (born 26 July 1952 in Gummersbach) is a former West German handball player. He was the Germany men's national handball team coach from 1997 to 2011. He is the only person who has won the world handball championship both as a playe ...
*
Eberhard Gienger
Eberhard Gienger (; born 21 July 1951) is a German politician ( CDU) and former West German gymnast. He competed at the 1972 and 1976 Summer Olympics, winning bronze in the latter.
Gymnastics career
During his gymnastics career from 1971 to 1 ...
*
Britta Heidemann
Britta Heidemann (born 22 December 1982) is a German épée fencer.
In 2016, Heidemann became a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
Career Épée Fencing
At the age of 14, already being a successful athlete and swimmer, Brit ...
*
Eckart von Hirschhausen
Eckart von Hirschhausen (born 25 August 1967) is a German physician, talk show host and comedian.
Academic career
Born in Frankfurt, von Hirschhausen studied medicine, supported by a scholarship from the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes (G ...
Klaus Kinkel
Klaus Kinkel (17 December 1936 – 4 March 2019)
* Werner E. Klatten
*
Joachim Król
Joachim Król (, born 17 June 1957 in Herne, West Germany) is a German actor, known for his appearances in the films ''Run Lola Run'', '' Maybe, Maybe Not'', and '' Anne Frank: The Whole Story''.
Early life and education
Król was born in He ...
Peter Maffay
Peter Alexander Makkay (born 30 August 1949), known as Peter Maffay (), is a Romanian-born German musician, singer, and composer.
Early life
Born in Braşov (german: link=no, Kronstadt), Romania, the son of a German (Transylvanian Saxon), h ...
Wolfgang Niedecken
Wolfgang Niedecken (, ; born 30 March 1951) is a German singer and musician. He founded the Kölsch-speaking rock group BAP at the end of the 1970s and soon became famous with BAP all over Germany. He is the lead singer and only remaining foun ...
*
Gerhard Schröder
Gerhard Fritz Kurt "Gerd" Schröder (; born 7 April 1944) is a German lobbyist and former politician, who served as the chancellor of Germany from 1998 to 2005. From 1999 to 2004, he was also the Leader of the Social Democratic Party of German ...
Edmund Stoiber
Edmund Rüdiger Stoiber (born 28 September 1941) is a German politician who served as the 16th Minister President of the state of Bavaria between 1993 and 2007 and chairman of the Christian Social Union (CSU) between 1999 and 2007. In 2002, he r ...
* Günter Weigl
Former members
*
Herbert Hainer
Herbert Hainer (born 3 July 1954) is a German businessman and the former CEO of Adidas-Group, as well as supervisory board chairman of the FC Bayern Munich AG. He is currently the president of the football club FC Bayern Munich.
Education
Hain ...
* Roland Kentsch
*
Steffi Jones
Stephanie Ann Jones (born 22 December 1972) is a German-American football manager and former player who last managed the German women's national team. As a defender, she earned 111 caps for the national team between 1993 and 2007, helping her c ...
Wilfried Straub
Wilfried Straub (26 March 1939 – 2 May 2016) was a German football official. He was vice president of the German Football Association (german: Deutscher Fuball-Bund, DFB) and until May 2005 Chief Executive Officer of the Deutsche Fußball Liga ...