By JohnPaul Nnamdi
The Sportplatz Jahnstadion Sandweg buzzed with festivity on June 15, the day of the Göttingen Integration Cup, a football tournament that brought together immigrants from diverse backgrounds and continents to meet, get to know each other and share emotions through football.
Organised by the Sierra Leone Union Goettingen E.V, it wasn’t just about goals and victories; it was a celebration of identity and fostering unity. As it has been done for over a decade, residents of Göttingen, representing their African, South American and Asian heritage, dedicated the day to play competitive football as a means of bridging cultures and weaving their own narratives on German soil.
The tournament featured teams represented by majorly African nations: Liberia, Zimbabwe, Sierra Leone, Cameroon, Burundi, Nigeria, Sudan, Somalia and Guinea. Other teams were Colombia, Afghanistan, Albania and Kurdistan. Each team donned a semblance of their country’s jersey, taking turns to play from group stage to knock out, with side attractions such as barbeque and Afrobeat rhythms in the stands.
“We have been doing this for over 10 years, concentrating on integrating foreigners and immigrants in Göttingen. We pick a day to bring them together through this football tournament,” Abubakar Sankoh, the secretary general of Sierra Leone Union Göttingen and the organiser of the event, told Soccernet.ng.
He said the event has been a platform for people who come together to catch up with friends they rarely see on a regular basis due to busy schedules, work or studies.
“Whenever we organise this event, there is always an atmosphere of friendship, togetherness and people get to see themselves after a long time. The motive behind this is to keep the foreigners together through sport. There are other cultural events, but football attracts everyone,” Sankoh added.
The one-day football tournament had 16 teams and all games were played from 10am to 8pm. The teams were divided into two groups as each game lasted for 15 minutes. Four teams from each group qualified to the knockout stage which then produced Burundi and South Sudan as finalist. Burundi defeated South Sudan to win this year’s edition of the competition.
The impact of the one-day football tournament has been felt around the city and has attracted lots of goodwill. It is also backed by the Stadt Göttingen who are the major sponsors of the event.
The event tends to be increasing diversity in Göttingen and helps to build more communication between the immigrants from different nations living in the city. And some participants attribute this to the number of people who show up for the event.
Michael Ekaba, the captain of the Nigeria team, expressed surprise at the large turnout.
“It was our first time of participating and it was a good one. We weren’t expecting the event to be this big, but on getting there we were amazed by the amount of people and teams that also came out.
“Despite not winning the competition, we still enjoyed ourselves because we got to meet other African brothers in Göttingen. There were people I have not seen for a very long time and we got to meet during the competition. I hope we get to see more teams in the next edition,” Ekaba said.
Sankoh hopes that the positive feedabck generated would encourage more organisations to sponsor the event.
By JohnPaul Nnamdi writes from Germany
