Action day champions German youth

The German Football Association (DFB) is taking a stand for confident children – using the high-profile platform of its action days.

DFB president Theo Zwanziger, together with Germany's federal minister for family affairs Kristina Schröder, kicked off the second DFB action day at a launch event in Berlin last month. The action day coincided with the inaugural UEFA Grassroots Day on Wednesday 19 May, and took place under the slogan 'Joining in is fun – strong kids, true champions'.

The action days are organised as community outreach events which promote the social skills of children and young people. The DFB arranged the second edition of the action day at about 800 of its 1,018 mini-pitches throughout the country. In addition to holding football matches on the pitches, the programme of activities also gave youngsters the chance to design their own action day wall, build and paint a goal wall, play games and create a poster. Specially branded equipment was handed out to staff.

Theo Zwanziger said: "Together with our partners, UEFA and the federal centre for health education, we are supporting the fun of playing, team spirit and creative action. On the first action day in 2009, children and young people helped put the event together with great enthusiasm and some fantastic ideas. Personality development through sport can be an effective means of combating the threat of drugs."

The DFB funded the construction of its mini-pitches to the tune of €25m as part of a project completed in 2009. The second action day, which was supervised at local level by schools and clubs, aimed to nurture values such as fair play, respect and social cooperation among its target constituency.