The Bundesliga soccer team 1. FC Union Berlin has put twelve-year-old children in a shared apartment - in retrospect, parents describe the conditions there as catastrophic.
This is shown by research by Ippen Investigativ and the ARD political magazine Kontraste.
A sponsorship agreement with one of the boys reveals which promises are already being made to attract children.
When the two then twelve-year-old Paul and Felix were visited for the first time by coaches from the Bundesliga club Union Berlin, they had been living in a shared apartment in the East Berlin district of Köpenick for some time: a long hallway, a living room with PlayStation, three double rooms, a refrigerator.
The flat share in an apartment building was made available by 1. FC Union because the two are considered young talents. The association lets a 27-year-old sports psychologist live there as a supervisor, who is supposed to be there for the children. But the supervisor himself is obviously overwhelmed by the situation, today he calls the flat share “provisional” and at times “not age-appropriate”. Children and parents report that he was often not at home and that the children often had no food at the end of the week. That is why they went shopping alone, regularly made bag soups or noodles, put themselves to bed and got up alone in the morning.
When the two Union trainers, who are responsible for the offspring, visit, Paul and Felix have to cook for the guests.
"We made burgers," says Paul today, three years later, in an interview with Ippen Investigativ * and the ARD political magazine Kontraste.
"And we had to tidy up our room, they checked whether it was tidy."
The business with young footballers - at Union Berlin it was evidently particularly problematic
The business with children, who are considered football talents, has been criticized for years.
Exclusive research shows that dealing with the youngsters at 1. FC Union Berlin was evidently particularly problematic.
For more than two years, three initially twelve-year-old children lived in a shared flat - according to their parents, without adequate care.
1. FC Union Berlin writes on request that the concept provides for “support in all phases of life and education for age-appropriate independence. The apartment was a first-time occupancy with a high standard of living. ”The supervisor responsible for the children also had“ a completed pedagogical degree from the start ”and looked after the players before school and after the training units.
The association also issued a so-called youth development agreement for at least one of the boys - very unusual for a child who is only twelve years old.
The initially promised 3000 euros were also not paid out.
After three years at Union, the two children were thrown out of the club last spring and thus also from the associated school for elite athletes - only with luck the children found a new school quickly enough for the following tenth school year.
On request, Union Berlin writes that the sponsorship agreement does not result in "any obligations or contractual commitment in any form" for the parents.
This voluntary additional service of the club is therefore not notifiable to the German Football Association (DFB) and the German Football League (DFL).
The DFL confirmed this on request.
Union Berlin: Talked to players, parents, teammates and former employees for months
Ippen Investigativ and the ARD politics magazine Kontraste have spoken to players, parents, teammates and former employees of the club several times for this research.
We have numerous chat messages, videos from the flat share and contract documents.
The names of the boys who lived in the shared apartment are known to us.
But because they still play football and fear disadvantages at other clubs, we have changed them in this article.
Our reporter Laurenz Schreiner (follow him at @LaurenzPM on Twitter) continues to research abuse in (youth) football. Have you experienced grievances yourself or have you received information and documents on abuse of power that might interest our research team? Contact recherche@ippen-investigativ.de in confidence.
This research follows a publication by BuzzFeed News Deutschland (today: Ippen Investigativ) and the Märkische Allgemeine Zeitung in spring.
At that time we reported that several young people and their parents accused the club of treating underage players badly and, above all, of discriminating against children with Turkish and Arab migrant backgrounds *.
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Paul comes from a village in Brandenburg.
In 2018 he was discovered by Union Berlin at the age of twelve.
© ARD contrasts
On a Wednesday in November, Paul, now 15 years old, is standing on a football pitch in Brandenburg. There are tall trees on one side and a small playground on the other. There are molehills in the meadow, it seems as if nobody has kicked this place for a long time.
Paul used to train alone here and dreamed of a career as a soccer player.
Back then, in 2018, he was still playing for a smaller club nearby.
During the holidays he takes part in a 1. FC Union soccer camp.
A coach is convinced of him and wants Paul to move to the big Berlin club.
But a drive to the training ground takes more than an hour.
Both parents are working and have to look after Paul's younger siblings.
So the association offers the boy to move into one of the association's own shared apartments in order to shorten the path.
Union Berlin promises the youngsters good conditions in its shared apartments
According to the parents, the club promises the best conditions: optimal care, free accommodation and meals, close exchange between the football club and the Flatow Oberschule, an elite school for sports.
In an “accommodation agreement” from 2020, which Ippen Investigativ und Kontraste has received, it is also stated that players will be “educated”.
“The care hours run from 6:00 p.m. on Sundays to 9:00 a.m. on Fridays,” says the document.
(We publish the original of the accommodation agreement here in blackened form.)
A dream comes true for the boy, the parents accept the offer.
"We trusted Union," says Paul's mother.
"Otherwise we would never have voluntarily given our child into the apartment at the age of twelve."
At that time there were two shared apartments in the house in Köpenick-Oberspree.
Four boys between the ages of 16 and 19 live in the lower one.
Two names of players are still on an improvised sticker at the entrance to the house in November 2021, they have long been playing at other clubs.
At that time several 15 to 16 year old boys lived in the upper flat share.
Paul moved in here in 2018 and Felix in 2019 as well as another twelve-year-old boy.
Three twelve-year-olds move into a shared apartment with 16-year-old teenagers at Union Berlin
Felix has been playing for 1. FC Union since 2017.
Initially, his parents from Brandenburg drive him to training four times a week and pick him up from school in the afternoons.
Felix does his homework in the car, and after training he goes straight to bed.
A trip takes more than an hour.
“It was torture for us,” says Felix's father.
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"The conditions were catastrophic." Parents complain about the inadequate care of their children from their point of view.
© ARD contrasts
Both boys are twelve years old when they move in. On request, 1. FC Union writes that four players under the age of 16 have lived in the shared apartment in the past five years. “The conditions were catastrophic,” says Felix's father, looking back. The association calls this description "untrustworthy". During the time in the flat share, the family would have said that the players feel very comfortable and want to stay with Union.
It is now normal in the football business for players to move across Germany at a very young age because a club is luring them out of the Bundesliga.
But then the players are usually accommodated in a boarding school or with host families so that they are optimally looked after outside of training.
1. FC Union's practice of letting extremely young players live in a shared apartment is probably unique among the 36 clubs in the First and Second Bundesliga.
This is suggested by a survey by Ippen Investigativ und Kontraste, in which 27 clubs from the first two national leagues responded.
Did the twelve-year-old Union offspring have to go through Köpenick alone late at night?
The 1. FC Union lets a 27-year-old student with a master's degree in sport psychology live in the shared apartment as a supervisor, who is supposed to look after the children.
But he was often not at home, say the boys.
He also played high class handball.
When he had training, the boys were home alone.
The supervisor did not pick up the children from training, they would have had to drive through Köpenick alone from the training ground at the time.
On request, Union Berlin writes that the association has hired an additional supervisor for the supervisor's training evenings.
I then also cooked them for the children.
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After Paul moved into the Union flat share at the age of twelve, he was not doing well.
"That sucks when I was alone.
Sometimes I was a little scared. "
© ARD contrasts
Paul speaks softly when he talks about the time in the shared apartment. “I also had great experiences with the supervisor, sometimes we went to play basketball,” he says. “But nobody else was there. That sucked when I was alone. Sometimes I was a bit scared. ”When Paul forgets the key to the apartment, he had to wait for the supervisor for hours after training in the late evening.
Another big problem was that "the supervisor", as the boys call him, did not cook for the children.
The club's “accommodation contract” states that “a balanced and sport-appropriate basic supply will be ensured”.
According to the parents, the association usually bought basic groceries, but the boys mostly had to cater for themselves.
If there was no food in the flat in the evening, the children would have had to go to Rewe and do their own shopping.
The association reimbursed them for the money.
"Dad, how does a kettle work?" - Children and parents reproach Union Berlin
On request, the 1. FC Union writes that age-appropriate and sport-appropriate care for the children was ensured at all times. The players' food requests were also taken into account. However, Felix's father remembers calls from his son. "Dad, how does a kettle work?" He asked. Felix used it to cook 5-minute terrines, and sometimes there was also noodles on which the boy sprinkled rosemary.
When the boys tell their parents about it, they complain to 1. FC Union. The association has announced that it will improve the situation and order a caterer, the parents tell Ippen Investigativ und Kontraste. But nothing came of it. Instead, the association suggested cooking together once a month. A few months later, a housekeeper came by the flat two days a week, and dinner was cooked for the boys on those days. On request, the 1. FC Union writes that between the complaints of the parents and the hiring of the additional caregiver only “approx. three weeks "have passed. After that there were no more complaints from the parents.
In a phone call with Ippen Investigativ und Kontraste, the supervisor reacts to the allegations with surprise.
When he came to 1. FC Union in 2017, the conditions there were actually bad.
"Cold water, no food, no internet access for the boys," is how he sums up the situation at the time.
His goal then was to improve the care and to make the boys independent in consultation with the association and their parents.
He did a lot with the children, had barbecues together, organized Champions League evenings and game evenings.
At Christmas, cookies were baked together in the shared apartment.
He regularly received good feedback from parents.
The supervisor paid by Union Berlin says: The apartment was only meant to be temporary
In addition, there were enough opportunities to wash the clothes, a cleaning lady came by the apartment every week and helped. Nevertheless, he informed the club early on that the structures would have to be further developed. “There was always talk of keeping the shared flat until the new NLZ building is in place, where the boarding school is,” he says. “From my perspective, the apartment was only meant to be temporary.” The club's youth performance center (NLZ) is still not open today. At the end of August 2021, the club celebrated the groundbreaking.
The supervisor can no longer reconstruct how often the boys were alone in the shared apartment. “I think I was always there,” he says. He also provided enough food. “It is the case in every household that not all groceries were available every day,” he says. “I went shopping every Monday. But if, for example, someone eats six yoghurts and the other doesn't, then there will be no more yoghurt on Tuesday. That then had to be bought later. It wasn't a hotel where groceries arrive every day and you just have to unload. "
The parents are in a dilemma.
On the one hand, they find out early on that the care in the shared apartment is very different from what the association promised before.
The club, as they see it, does not care enough for its offspring.
On the other hand, board and lodging are paid for by Union.
And their children are initially happy at 1. FC Union.
"My son always said that I would take care of it myself," says Paul's mother.
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Paul himself has the hope of becoming a professional soccer player.
This is one of the reasons why his parents are initially reluctant to criticize Union Berlin.
© ARD contrasts
In the summer of 2019, the club will be promoted to the Bundesliga, and the young footballers will be able to cheer for the decisive game against Stuttgart in the An der Alten Försterei stadium. Her son's dream of standing there himself one day is alive. The parents are worried about destroying this dream with too much criticism of the club. The supervisor also reports that the parents were reluctant to express criticism and even partially praised the shared apartment. Today Paul's mother has a different view of youth football. The flat share was way too early for her son, she says, “because the children think: I am safe there for all eternity and I am promised heaven on earth. But unfortunately it's not like that. ”The mother does not reproach herself for not having taken her child out of the shared apartment. The association has always signaledwanting to improve conditions.
Inadequate care situation: NLZ head of a Bundesliga competitor criticizes Union
According to these descriptions by Ippen Investigativ und Kontraste, the NLZ manager of another Bundesliga club considers the support situation at 1. FC Union to be inadequate.
As an association, you have to provide all-round support, you need people with a specialist background and not young professionals or students.
Time windows without supervision are fatal.
The age difference between boys within a shared apartment is also much too big with 12-year-olds and 15- to 16-year-olds, says the NLZ manager.
Only in summer 2020 will the situation structurally improve for the boys.
The association rents rooms from a former film factory, the boys are allowed to move.
According to the parents and the supervisor, the care at the new location should have improved significantly.
Now the boys had been cooked for.
But according to research by Ippen Investigativ and ARD-Kontraste, young Union players apparently still live in one of the old flat shares in Köpenick.
In November 2021 we watch them go from the flat to the training ground with Union rucksacks and training clothes.
Union Berlin writes on request that the club currently has a shared apartment there with five U19 players.
The young people would be supported by an educator and housekeeper, online tutoring, an external caterer and a cleaning specialist.
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The house in which the flat share is located.
Union Berlin's young players still live here today.
© ARD contrasts
Union attracted children like Felix and Paul not only with the prospect of optimal care and free food, but also at least partially with money.
Ippen Investigativ and the ARD political magazine Kontraste have a so-called youth development agreement from one of the children, Felix.
(The original of the agreement is blackened out.) In this agreement, the then twelve-year-old boy is promised a monthly sum of money.
In the contract from January 2019, Felix is the sole contractual partner, signed by his parents.
The club is represented by the president Dirk Zingler and the managing director of youth and amateur football Lutz Munack.
Union Berlin paid one of the children 3000 euros over three years
Union declares in the contract, "for talented young players on a separate account, which is the owner of the club, as part of a savings plan to save an individually determined monthly amount".
The amount saved will only be paid out if the player fulfills “certain requirements” during that time.
There is no legal claim to the money.
For Felix it is stipulated that the club will save 50 euros per month in the first year, i.e. in the 2018/2019 season, and 100 euros per month in the second and third years.
After the three years, the player should then receive the 3,000 euros in the summer of 2021 - but only if a “valid sponsorship agreement according to the criteria of the DFL” is signed with him from July 1, 2021.
In fact, funding contracts may only be concluded with players from the U16 area. Such funding agreements must be reported to the DFL. When asked, 1. FC Union initially writes: “From the age group U16, DFL clubs are allowed to conclude sponsorship agreements. We adhere to this regulation. ”When asked about the specific contract with Felix, Union calls the agreement“ mutual support and a sign of appreciation for the player ”. It would rarely be used. When asked, 1. FC Union does not state how many players the club has concluded such "agreements" with. "The savings agreements with players are a voluntary additional service of the club and therefore do not need to be reported to the DFL and DFB," the club said.
The DFB refers to the request to the DFL.
Ippen Investigativ und Kontraste replied that the DFL was not aware of the agreement.
Such agreements do not have to be submitted to the associations.
The "agreement" with the twelve-year-old Felix contains another, unusual clause: The "termination of the savings account and payment of the savings to the player" remains "at the discretion of the club".
NLZ manager considers Union Berlin's funding agreement to be "dubious" and "highly questionable"
The NLZ manager of another Bundesliga club calls the agreement “dubious” and “highly questionable”.
Despite his long experience in youth football, he has never seen such a document and is annoyed about "black sheep" in the industry.
Such contracts create a dependency.
It is irresponsible of associations to exploit the dreams of the boys and the financial hopes of their parents.
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The sports lawyer Philipp Fischinger from the University of Mannheim sees a taste in the funding agreement of Union Berlin.
© ARD contrasts
For the sports lawyer Philipp Fischinger from the University of Mannheim, the agreement is permissible from a legal point of view. He sees here "a kind of conditional bonus money" that the boy is not required to work. "Morally you can argue about whether the contract has a taste and 12-year-olds are lured with the hope of a great football career," says Fischinger. On the one hand, he sees it as the duty of the parents to show the children that there is little chance of the dream of becoming a professional footballer. On the other hand, he suggests that the DFB should better educate the young players about their prospects at an early stage.
After all, studies show that it is more harmful if talent is selected at an early stage.
Sports scientists Arne Güllich and Paul Larkin have been researching the promotion of young talent in football for several years.
An unpublished study by the two researchers is exclusively available to Ippen Investigativ und Kontraste.
For this study, the researchers evaluated 57 studies on talent development, including from Germany, Great Britain, Canada and the Netherlands.
Their study shows: the earlier a boy is admitted to the youth training center, the lower the likelihood that he will later become a professional footballer.
A study shows that over 50 percent of young footballers have psychological stress
Early support is aimed primarily at biologically precocious children, says Arne Güllich, professor at the Technical University of Kaiserslautern.
These children would have physical advantages that later offset each other.
In addition, moderate training is more sustainable in the long term than early extreme training.
But many clubs in the national leagues continue to rely on the scouting of very young players.
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Arne Güllich has been researching youth work in football for years.
He is very critical of early support in high-performance centers.
© ARD contrasts
“Children have a right not to be seen as a commodity from an economic point of view,” says Güllich and warns: For the many players who do not make it to the top, retirement is a disaster.
Over 50 percent of adolescents have psychological stress that is clinically relevant, says Güllich.
“The lifelong dream is shattered.
The whole previous life no longer exists.
Your own identity is lost. "
When Felix was informed in May 2021 that he should leave the club after three years, he and his parents were not paid the money from the alleged savings plan.
"This is a game that has been agreed upon," says Felix 'father.
"According to the motto: Come to us, you won't get the money anyway."
Felix's time at 1. FC Union ends in April 2021. On a Wednesday evening, reports Felix's father, his trainer is said to have told his parents that their son's time at 1. FC Union was over. On Thursday he was still training, on Friday he was said goodbye after training - after three years with the club and after the "youth development agreement" expired. Felix's father is still angry. “It's such a non-educational and unpsychological behavior what Union is doing to the children,” he says. "I have lost my last faith in this junior training center."
It should have been similar with Paul.
In mid-April 2021, the parents got a call from the coach: Paul had to leave 1. FC Union, he was too slow.
As recently as February, the youth leader made no suggestion in this direction in a conversation, and in March the coach assured Paul that he would be able to stay with the club.
“At the front they say it's all good and at the back you get the ball,” says a father
“We have to plan, we have to look after the children,” says Paul's father.
After all, being kicked out at Union means that the boy has to leave the shared apartment and the school, which is a cooperative school of the association.
“I am most disappointed with the lie,” says the father.
"At the front they say it's all good and at the back you get the ball."
The way of communication is brutal for the children too. The parents have to find a new school within a few days. Fortunately, a headmistress from Brandenburg takes Paul on straight away. It is now too late for trial training at other ambitious clubs. For the time being, Paul is playing again at a club near his parents, where he now lives again.
On request, 1. FC Union stated that the performance of both players had stagnated in their last year. That can also be deduced from a written performance assessment. In November 2020, the parents were told that their sons “currently do not meet the criteria for continuation”. The parents had been informed that the players could take part in training until the end of the season and would also be allowed to live in the shared apartment for as long. "Both players were also given the opportunity for trial training sessions at possible new clubs," writes Union Berlin. "All offers were taken up by both players."
Union will derweil vermeiden, dass Informationen über die sogenannte „Nachwuchsfördervereinbarung“, an die Öffentlichkeit kommen. „Beide Parteien behalten Stillschweigen [...] über die getroffenen Fördervereinbarungen“, heißt es in dem Dokument. Und eine Episode aus dem vergangenen Jahr zeigt, wie wichtig es dem 1. FC Union ist, dass auch die offenbar mangelhafte Unterbringung der Jungen nicht bekannt wird.
Union Berlin lässt Interview über die WG wieder aus dem Internet nehmen
Damals gab Paul der Sportplattform „Fupa“ ein Interview zu den Bedingungen in der Jugendabteilung des 1. FC Union. „Im Gegensatz zu anderen Vereinen besitzt Union Berlin kein direktes Internat, allerdings zwei WGs, welche in Ueber18 und U13-U17 unterteilt sind“, heißt es in dem Interview zunächst. „Da der Verein auch auf Eigenverantwortung Wert legt, stelle ich mir, wie jeder andere auch, meinen Wecker selbst. Und auch für das Frühstück ist jeder selbst verantwortlich“, antwortet Felix in dem Interview. „Es ist ja auch so, dass ich seit dem Einzug in die WG selbst koche, dies habe ich sehr schnell gelernt.“ Ippen Investigativ und Kontraste liegt das ganze Interview vor.
The head of Union's youth department is said to have initially allowed the interview, says Felix's father today when asked.
After the conversation had been online for a few hours, the association suddenly called “Fupa” and asked the platform to take the interview off the Internet again.
The sports website followed the request.
Union Berlin is said to have told Felix's father that the association did not want details of the shared apartments to become public.
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After being kicked out of Union Berlin, Paul felt for a while as if he had “completely failed”.
© ARD contrasts
Auf Anfrage erklärt der 1. FC Union, dass der Artikel nicht für eine „überregionale Plattform“ freigegeben worden sei. „Zum Schutz der Kinder erschien es unverantwortlich, den Artikel in dieser Form online gestellt zu lassen“, schreibt der Verein. Der beteiligte Redakteur von „Fupa“ sagt Ippen Investigativ und Kontraste, dass Unions Pressesprecher ihn am Telefon freundlich darauf hingewiesen habe, dass das Interview nicht genehmigt worden wäre. Der Pressesprecher habe aber angeboten, sich zusammenzusetzen und an einem neuen Artikel zu dem Thema zu arbeiten.
Paul's mother says there were weeks after the eviction that her son felt as if he had "failed completely".
Even so, Paul has not yet given up on the dream of becoming a professional footballer.
He would only cancel if 1. FC Union called him again.
To date, none of the club has spoken to him about being
kicked
out. *
Ippen The research team at IPPEN.MEDIA is investigative.
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At the.
Today, Thursday evening, November 25, 2021, the ARD politics magazine Kontraste will broadcast an article on this research at 9.45 p.m.
Have you experienced grievances yourself or have you received information and documents on abuse of power that might interest our research team? Contact recherche@ippen-investigativ.de in confidence.