Impacts of the social program "Just Football" on the participating sport clubs

The social program “Just Football” is a joint initiative of the chemical company Bayer and the German Football Association in cooperation with the associated Sepp Herberger Foundation. It aims to include youth with intellectual disability better into the society by sport and in particular football. The intention of this study is to analyse the indirect impacts of the social engagements on the participating sport clubs.

Considering the state of research and the defined research objectives the study has a strong explorative character. In focus group interviews board members of the participating clubs were encouraged to discuss the interested issues. This method has the advantage to gather information, opinions, perspectives and experience in a short time. A weak structured theme catalogue was the basis the focus group discussion which enables the participants to discuss openly as well as to make sure that the discussion is within the scope of the topic.

Participating in the social program „Just Football“ increased the awareness of the sport clubs as well as improved the club’s image. Positive reciprocal effects could be obtained in particular by the club’s stakeholders. Sponsors of the club considered the participation of the club in the social program “Just Football” as a confirmation for their engagement in the sport club, for example. Furthermore, the identification of the club members has been increased and so the club could bond their members. The participation in the social program also provided some challenges for the clubs. Finally, these challenges were smaller than expected, so that all clubs agree to recommend the participation in the social program “Just Football”.