Arsenal Double Club trip to Cologne

Young people from the local community enjoyed the opportunity of a lifetime as they travelled to Cologne to share their passion for football.

For the second year running, participants from Arsenal in the Community’s Premier League Kicks and Arsenal Women’s Player Development programmes experienced life as aspiring footballers in Germany.

Supported by members of Friends of the Goethe-Institut London, the young people met like-minded peers for joint training sessions and undertook a performance analysis session courtesy of 1. FC Köln.

As well as taking in local attractions and experiencing German life and culture first-hand, the group also went on a tour of the German Sport University Cologne and received a presentation from the German FA about scouting opposition for the national team.

The itinerary was designed to broaden the minds of the young people, bring them out of their comfort zones and highlight the future opportunities – in and out of football – that are there to be unlocked.

The trip is the latest mobility opportunity for young people provided through the Arsenal Double Club, a project pioneered by Arsenal in the Community since 2006, which uses football to promote language learning.

Arsenal in the Community has been using the power of the Arsenal name to positively impact the lives of young people since 1985. The team delivers sport, social and education programmes to over 5,000 individuals each week.

The Friends of the Goethe-Institut London is a charity made up of German companies, with the aim of promoting German language, arts, culture and general international cultural cooperation for the benefit of the public in the United Kingdom. The Goethe-Institut is the cultural institute of Germany with a global reach. It promotes knowledge of German abroad and encourages international cultural exchange.

The trip is also supported by the non-profit foundation Football is More and the German Youth Hostel Association DJH (Landesverband Rheinland e.V.). Special thanks to The Football is More volunteer, Anne Bellinghausen, who helped to coordinate the trip once again.