Charity football for humanity: Gadebusch shows heart in indoor football!

The first charity football tournament organized by the Gadebusch Association for Culture and Tolerance (KuT) took place on January 12, 2025. The aim of the tournament was to support the Sea Punks initiative, which is dedicated to civilian sea rescue in the Mediterranean. Teams from Rostock, Lübeck and Gadebusch took part in this event and prizes such as shirts and music CDs were awarded, but no trophies.

The Internationale FC Rostock set up two teams to support the commitment. The KuT club has over 600 members and offers five soccer teams, including two men's, two women's and an over-35 team. The main goal of the association is peaceful coexistence and promoting acceptance among its members. Other participating teams included the Rote Stern Lübeck, a team from Rosenow, “The Last”, PSV Gadebusch and KuT Gadebusch.

Results and plans for the future

Organizer Andy Steinberg was pleased with the successful premiere of the tournament and has already announced a larger tournament in the summer. This will take place in the Gadebusch Jahn Sports Park with 28 teams. The Passionierte Sportverein Gadebusch emerged as the winner of the tournament by beating Red Star Lübeck I in the final. PSV Gadebusch had previously organized a money collection for the support association of the Schwerin children's cancer clinic.

The Sea Punks initiative, for which the tournament took place, is a non-profit organization that wants to help refugees in the Mediterranean. Every day, refugees from the Middle East, sub-Saharan Africa and North Africa face dangerous conditions in the Mediterranean, where the Mediterranean route is considered one of the most dangerous escape routes in the world. States of war, poor living conditions and climate-related famine are common reasons for refugees.

Sea Punks plans to purchase its own rescue ship to actively save human lives. Civilian organizations are increasingly taking responsibility for rescuing people in distress at sea, while the EU is often referred to as “Fortress of Europe” because it does not deploy its own rescue ships at its external borders. Coastal states are obliged to set up a search and rescue service and to cooperate with other states. In addition, all ships must help if they learn of a maritime emergency.

The organization is funded primarily through donations and membership fees and has already purchased a ship, the Rise Above, to save lives. In addition, a sanitary container was provided for refugees in Greece. Sea Punks continues to seek support and is made up of volunteer members with diverse professional backgrounds.