Bayern Munich teach over 70 children from around the world the meaning of culture at Allianz Junior Football Camp

The eighth Allianz Junior Training Camp saw 73 children from 35 countries travel to Munich to experience what it feels like to be a professional footballer

(Allianz)

73 teenagers from across the flocked eagerly made the trip to Munich to take part in the eighth Allianz Junior Football Camp where they took the next step towards reaching their dreams after not only visiting the season-opening Bundesliga match at Allianz Arena, but meet a selection of the Bayern Munich players while taking part in an elite training camp with the club’s youth coaches.

Young boys and girls from as close as France and as far as Mexico and Burma arrived with smiles on their faces and a spring in their step ahead of a four-day training camp. Despite the obvious language barriers and spending the week in the company of complete strangers, their love of football ensured that new relationships were built immediately in the same fashion that a professional football team comes together.

They were put through their paces not such individually but collectively as their teamwork was tested to the limit, with the Bayern coaches pitting children from different nations together to see how they communicated on the pitch.

Yet once the hard work was over on the training pitch, and Bayern despatched Werder Bremen 6-0 in another of their famous Bundesliga demolition jobs, the children were left star-struck as the likes of Renato Sanches, Xabi Alonso and Arjen Robben greeted them before participating in a meet and greet session to pass on their vast experience on the pitch.

(Allianz (Allianz)

“It’s all about the passion you have for football – for anything you do in life really, whether it’s sport, football,” Robben said in a press conference that was broadcast across the globe via Facebook Live.

“I think it’s just the passion and love you have for the game, always wanting to improve and I think especially the main thing is if you have achieved something, don’t be satisfied. Always aim to make that extra step just to get a little bit better. That’s the only way I think you can reach the top.”

One of the lucky ones was Alec, from Florida, who appeared alongside Robben in the press conference and explained how the initial challenge of meeting others from around the world was immediately conquered.

“I’m learning. I don’t know much, and I ask when I need help and when I ask they teach me. They don’t shun me, they don’t look at me a funny way, we might not speak the same language but we communicate in a way somehow, either with a phone or someone else translating or something else, we communicate together,” Alec explains.

Asked what he expected when he arrived in Munich, Alec said: “To make friends and meet people, and to discover cultures about how people live and the different way they do things to me in America. I’ve definitely reached by expectations.”

Robben echoes Alec’s comments and explains how learning and understanding other cultures that are unfamiliar to you can reap rewards on the pitch.

“Especially just to meet new cultures and you need to work together to come to a result as a team,” adds Robben. “To come here, to learn a new culture, to be in Germany but to be around with a lot of different nationalities and all have the same target, to learn to play football. That’s very good.”

He adds: “For us it’s a privilege here at Bayern. I’ve worked with four great coaches, every coach has their own way of working and their own style. It doesn’t matter what age, you always try to pick out the things that you think are interesting or can help you, so for me it’s always nice to learn different types of philosophies as well about how they think about football, how they want to play, so I think for us that’s also interesting.”

Allianz have now enabled more than 500 young children to travel to Munich in order to develop on and off the pitch over the years, and they explained why the initiative means so much to them.

“Allianz believes that the values of football – teamwork, passion, and discipline, to name just a few – are equally important on and off the pitch. We are committed to instilling these values in the next generation of football players and fans,” an Allianz spokesperson said.

“To achieve this goal, we have hosted the Allianz Junior Football Camp every year since 2009. Over the past eight years, the programme has received over 450,000 applicants and has welcomed more than 500 participants from 35 countries to Munich.

“The Camp has long become a successful program for young talents from around the world. Love of football brings people together regardless of differences in nationality or language, and Allianz is proud part of this adventure and to help these young athletes fulfil their dreams and goals. Our participants have the opportunity to gather once in a lifetime experiences both on and off the football field - meeting their football heroes, watching them in action and giving them a real insight into what it takes to become an elite level athlete.”