FCA goes South Africa

For the first time in club history, FC Augsburg’s pre-season training camp is taking place outside of Europe. Jess Thorup’s side will prepare for the upcoming Bundesliga season in White River, situated in the Mpumalanga province. Additionally, FCA will engage in some community work and serve as ambassadors for the DFL and for German football.

“We’re thrilled to get going after some intensive weeks of training. In White River, the team will find great facilities to prepare for our upcoming Bundesliga campaign. Off the pitch, the whole club will also have a valuable and enriching experience by leaving their comfort zone, immersing in a new culture and engaging with the local community,” explained FCA CEO Michael Ströll.

Alongside some intense training sessions, the club will also take part in the “Mpumalanga Premier’s International Cup”. Here, Jess Thorup’s side will play matches against Young Africans SC (20th July, 15:00 CEST) and TS Galaxy (27th July, 15:00 CEST) at the Mbombela Stadium – one of the host stadiums of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. In the local region, the matches will be shown live on the SABC TV channel.

Long-term local community work

In addition to this, it is also very important to FC Augsburg to engage with the local community and support social actions during their trip to South Africa.  

As part of their summer training camp in South Africa, in the spirit of Augsburg’s renowned water management system, a UNESCO World Heritage site, and given the great importance of water as a resource for global sustainability goals, FC Augsburg will set up and support the project “Football4WASH” in the Mpumalanga province for the next three years, together with Viva con Agua. WASH stands for Water and Sanitary Health, and important lessons on this topic are being playfully taught in local schools. In addition, water infrastructure is being constructed and improved in educational institutions. The German Football League (DFL) and local club TS Galaxy are also supporting the project. To kick off Football4WASH, FCA will lead the project’s first workshop at the Cyril Clarke Secondary School alongside Viva con Agua South Africa.

“Engaging with the local community is a very personal matter for us. We think it’s normal to turn on the tap and to have plentiful amounts of clean water. However, this hasn’t been a reality in many parts of the world for a long time, and in South Africa, lots of areas of the country don’t have guaranteed access to sufficient water and drinking water,” commented Ströll. “It quickly became clear that our community work would focus on water. We’re really pleased to be supporting such a great project in South Africa in Football4WASH, which is showing the uniting nature of football. The fact that this is a long-term engagement which will sustainably improve people’s daily life makes it an even more important matter to us.”

In line with FCA’s sustainability strategy, the club will also fulfil its environmental responsibilities. For example, the club’s will offset the emissions expended during travelling, which supports climate projects that don’t just save carbon dioxide, but also promote sustainable development through technology transfer and poverty prevention in Africa, South America and Asia. FCA will select appropriate projects, and the implementation of the compensation will be monitored externally to ensure that important standards are met.

A visit to Kruger National Park

A further item on the agenda for FCA is a visit to Kruger National Park, which has an area of nearly 2 million hectares, making it the largest game reserve in South Africa, and is one of the most important nature and game reserves in the world. The unique park houses 147 wild mammal species, 517 species of birds, 114 types of reptiles, as well as a diverse range of amphibians and freshwater fish. Some of these animals, who are threatened by extinction, can be admired in the wild. The national park also offers a unique flora with 16 different eco-zones.

Tour visual for the training camp

In order to highlight the uniqueness of the region and show its connection to the people and culture of Mpumalanga, FCA have created a unique tour visual for the training camp. Inspired by the works of South African artist Esther Mahlangu, the design combines a variety of elements that are important for both the province of Mpumalanga and FC Augsburg.

The tour visual will not only be on FCA’s clothing during the training camp, but also on posters, perimeter boards in training and on the club’s social media channels. The players and staff members wore the especially designed shirts for the tour, as well as colourful bucket hats, as they came off the plane. 

FC Augsburg will be using these hashtags - #FCAinMpumalanga and #BLinSouthAfrica – on their social media channels to keep fans updated with their daily activities in South Africa.