In September 2016 more donations have been awarded by Football Supporters Europe (FSE) for groups working with refugees showing that football fans around the continent welcome refugees fleeing war and persecution.
The FSE Committee decided to make contributions of 1000 euros each to two groups from Germany and Croatia.
The first donation will be received by the Fans´ Project Paderborn, who collected loads of merchandise during the initial #Secondfanshirt collections. With the donation, the FP Paderborn will be supporting two local refugee projects. Firstly the SC Aleviten Paderborn, who have a Refugee team in the lowest league. They will also be supporting Micado Bicycles Repair Shop Paderborn, a project run by the Caritasverband Paderborn. Micado is running a garage, where refugees are learning how to repair old bikes.
The second donation goes to NK Zagreb 041, the first fan owned, direct democratic football club in Croatia, who are at the moment starting their second season in the 7th Croatian league. Since their formation, NK Zagreb 041 have worked closely with asylum seekers, who train and play for the club, whilst others are engaged as supporters. The team is composed of a mixture of asylum seekers and local lads with a passion for football. Through football as a universally understood language they try to integrate refugees in the local community.
Welcoming the continued efforts of football supporters to aid refugees, Mark Doidge, the Director of FSE´s Anti-Discrimination Division (ADD) said: “Once again football fans are leading the way where politicians are not. Fans are making a direct meaningful contribution to people’s lives and it’s a pleasure for Football Supporters Europe to support them.”