DFL, DFL Foundation and German Sports Aid Foundation join forces to motivate young people to get more exercise

‘Stay hungry, stay curious, and never stand still!’ – this is the message from young athletes and partners DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga, the DFL Foundation and German Sports Aid Foundation (Deutsche Sporthilfe), who together launched the #ZukunftBewegen (‘Moving forwards’) initiative in 2022. The aim is to encourage children and young people especially to engage in more sport and exercise. 

At the heart of the initiative is an event series in which elite athletes and major talents from various Olympic and Paralympic sports draw attention to the importance of exercise. They present children and teenagers their sport and motivate them to try it out themselves. As role models, they also contributed to an advert that spreads a spirit of optimism and confidence and aims to draw attention to the lack of physical activity in Germany, which has once again increased due to the coronavirus pandemic. The main athletes include Niko Kappel (Paralympic champion and world record holder in the shot putt), Anna-Maria Wagner (Olympic bronze medallist and judo world champion) and Léon Schäfer (Paralympic silver medallist in the long jump). Bundesliga legend Claudio Pizarro (197 goals in 490 games, six-time Bundesliga winner) is also part of the project as a sporting ambassador.

The DFL, DFL Foundation and German Sports Aid Foundation have been jointly supporting talented athletes in more than 50 sports since 2008. At the heart of the partnership is the German Sports Aid’s Youth Elite funding, financed entirely by the DFL Foundation, which has already helped more than 1,000 talented athletes from various Olympic and Paralympic disciplines as well as deaf sports.

You can find out more about the #ZukunftBewegen initiative and the partnership between the DFL, DFL Foundation and the German sports Aid Foundation at https://www.zukunft-bewegen.com/ (in German).