The “Fußball trifft Kultur” World Cup 26 Challenge

The “Fußball trifft Kultur” World Cup 26 Challenge

The “Fußball trifft Kultur Final Tournament” will take place on June 13 and 14, 2026 in Frankfurt in the run-up to the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The host countries for the games are the USA, Mexico and Canada. In addition to their respective clubs, the program groups of the respective FtK locations will also present a country drawn by lot at the final tournament this year. This can take the form of a run-in with the corresponding country flag, for example.

The draw:

Together with mascot Litti, presenter Tim Gailus and LitCam Director Karin Plötz, a draw was held in the run-up to the final “Fußball trifft Kultur” tournament. Each program location was assigned one of the countries qualified for the World Cup. The program groups then received the corresponding country flags by post so that they could start their preparations.

Photo credit: Patrick Klaus

The task:

The FtK program groups have until May 6 to deal with the content of their country and develop a creative presentation. There are no limits to the children’s creativity. The creative elaboration should then be sent to LitCam in the form of a photo of what has been created and, if applicable, a short video (maximum 1:00 minute long) in which the children present their ideas. The posts submitted will then be judged by a jury according to the criteria of creativity, content and presentation.

The jury:

The jury is divided into two groups. The first group evaluates the work of the U10 FtK groups and the second group evaluates the work of the U14 FtK groups. The following people are part of the jury:

Jury for the U10 submissions

  • Tim Gailus, KIKA presenter
  • Matthias Mühlen, VFL Bochum Management Board
  • Phillipp Mwene, professional footballer Mainz 05, Austrian national player and Laureus Sport for Good ambassador
  • Julia Schilling, Co-Managing Director Laureus Sport for Good Germany & Austria
  • Karin Plötz, Director LitCam gGmbH

Jury for the U14 submissions

  • Franziska Fey, Chairwoman of the Board of the DFL Foundation
  • Brigitte Hirschler, Head of the Foundation and Competitions Department, Hessian Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs
  • Jonas Kozinowski, Managing Director of Feinherb Medien and soccer book author
  • Anton Schumacher, Head of Pedagogy and Sports Boarding School (NLZ) Eintracht Frankfurt
  • Elvis Rexhbecaj, professional soccer player FC Augsburg, national player Kosovo
  • Karin Plötz, Director LitCam gGmbH

“Fußball trifft Kultur”: Impact analysis 2024/25 is here!

Our impact analysis for “Fußball trifft Kultur” in the 2024/25 school year is here! We published our report today, taking a detailed look at the results of the past FtK year. For the first time, the so-called “success stories” are also part of the report.

To create our impact analysis, we rely on our classic, two-pronged survey procedure: Firstly, the survey of the primary target group, the children. The children are surveyed at the end of the school year and can report on their learning progress as well as their motivation and feelings about “FtK”. And secondly, the views of our multipliers, our honorary staff, are also included. Our trainers and teachers submit a final report at the end of the school year, which allows us to better understand the developments in the group. For the first time, the trainers and teachers can also write down their “success stories”: In doing so, they give an anecdotal account of how individual participants have developed at “FtK” and how their behavior and skills have changed. The aim of the “success stories” is to make the results and impact of “Fußball trifft Kultur” more tangible.

In addition to the final reports, our honorary staff also document their content and performance in monthly reports. The monthly reports can be used to determine the exact number of hours and the respective absences. The utilization of the units is also documented, i.e. how many of the registered children are actually present.

The results of the 2024/25 impact analysis are impressive: 98% of all children say they have fun at “Fußball trifft Kultur”. Soccer training traditionally performs slightly better, but the majority of children also enjoy the lessons – which is very positive, especially considering the target group. The results for social skills are also excellent. 93% of the children say they treat each other with respect. It is clear from the reports of the trainers and teachers that this was often a development process, as there were often difficulties in dealing with each other at the beginning of the school year.

Further survey results, learning outcomes and an insight into some success stories can be found in our impact analysis, which is available to download HERE.