More Than Football

The commitment of the blind footballers at FC St. Pauli does not end on the pitch. From the very beginning, the department has seen itself as a space for sport and social interaction. The fact that blind and sighted people play together in different roles – on the pitch, in goal, as guides, coaches or referees – makes the sport a prime example of cooperation and inclusion in action.

This unique aspect has been attracting considerable interest for many years. The blind football section uses this attention to raise the profile of the sport and increase awareness of the lived experiences of blind and visually impaired people. Through school projects, workshops and hands-on activities, children, young people and adults gain first-hand experience of the sport. In Hamburg alone, the FC St. Pauli blind footballers have offered sessions at more than 40 schools. Through the ‘Check Voy!’ project, over 1,200 pupils were able to try out blind football in 2024 alone.

A photo shoot for a children’s magazine in 2012 marked the beginning of the club’s youth development programme: two children who took part in the shoot on the pitch decided that they wanted to keep training. This led to the development of a regular youth training group. A few years later, the players of this group formed the core of the team that won the first championship in 2017.

The department’s commitment has also benefited professional and academic education across Germany: Blind football is now part of courses and training programmes for university students, teachers, police recruits and sports medicine professionals.

FC St. Pauli’s long-serving coach Wolf Schmidt played a key role in the very first license-relevant coaching course on blind football, organised in cooperation between the DFB (German Football Association) and the DBS (German Disabled Sports Association). In this way, the blind football department is making a decisive contribution to the sport’s development beyond the club’s own boundaries. A success story both on and off the pitch.

Captions:
Philipp Versen leads a sensitisation session. He first became aware of FC St. Pauli’s blind football team through a session delivered as part of the Sensitisation Programme at his school.

Young players from the FC St. Pauli Rabauken take part in a sensitisation session with Serdal Celebi.

FC St. Pauli coach Wolf Schmidt leads a course for trainers organised by the German Football Association (DFB) and the German Disabled Sports Association (DBS).

Natan Werner dribbles past his opponents during a joint youth training session with Werder Bremen.

The department’s Sensitisation Programme is aimed at a broad audience. In 2024, a group of Tibetan monks visited FC St. Pauli’s blind football team for a training session at the Millerntor Stadium.