Inclusion of migrants and refugees in and through sport in Germany

Integration through Sport“ is a federal programme of the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB). The programme is implemented at federal level by the federal states sports federations. Today, 2200 sports clubs actively participate in the programme. DOSB defines integration as a long-lasting continuous process which aims to create equal participation chances for every person regardless of his/her place of origin in all spheres of modern society: economic, political, social.

In 2015 the programme was opened for refugees in addition to migrants, the main target group. DOSB formulates its goals as follows: integration in sport, integration through sport into society, support of sports organisations in their integration work, promotion of voluntary commitment, promotion of intercultural opening, strengthening of social acceptance of sport as important actor in the field of integration.