Sports-Charisma

Since the first kick-off in April 2011 in the Canary Islands, it has been rolling and rolling through Spain, meeting thousands of Spanish students along the way, until it reached its final destination on the 24th November in Santiago de Compostela.

It climbed the highest peak of the Teide and rolled through the popular quarters of Madrid. While dribbling along unnoticed, it even managed to enter the Alhambra in Granada, it flew through the alleyways of Sevilla, rolled across the beaches of Malaga, along the aqueduct in Segovia and many more wonderful places that Spain has to offer.

Just before Finisterre – supposedly the end of the world – the ball chose Santiago de Compostela as the location for the grand finale on the 25th November, a city which represents an important milestone for many pilgrims.

The nine best goal scorers

Nine of the best goal scorers from the schools that the ball visited on its journey through Spain were invited to this extraordinary event. On top of being German language students, the lucky chosen ones– five of them from schools of the PASCH-Initiative – were particularly skilful players, outrivaling their peers by scoring the highest number of goals at the Torwand (the goal board –  a target practice board with two holes).

On Wednesday 23rd of November the first participants arrived. The students were hosted by families from M. Peleteiro School, which was the center and the hub of most of the activities that took place prior to the grand finale. These events were all very well organized – thanks to the efforts of Ingeborg Werner, who has been a German teacher at the school for more than 10 years.

The school’s facilities, which were built three years ago, turned out to be ideal for hosting the entire event, especially the spacious auditorium: It was here, on Thursday morning that Director Luis Peleteiro gave a warm welcome to the participants as well as Michael Höfig, who is responsible for the educational cooperation of the Goethe Institute Madrid. He then presented the project GOOOL!, which was naturally accompanied by Paul the Octopus who has been playing a vital role in the whole football adventure.

Michael Höfig reminded the audience that the German octopus became famous for predicting Spain instead of Germany as the winner of the 2010 World Cup. He emphasized the motivational factor of “football as a universal language”, which was the reason for choosing precisely this theme to promote the German language in Spain.

The highlight of the day was yet to come when the German-Australian artist DYKO, John Barrie Dyke, appeared on stage in the afternoon and took everyone by surprise with his Kraftwerk-style electric music, his lyrics and especially his show. From the first moment, the audience was ecstatic and in true Iggy Pop style, DYKO stage-dived into the crowd of his young listeners. The final year students were also lucky enough to be able to participate in a music workshop with DYKO and record their very own tunes.

The grand finale

Some energy had to be saved for Friday however as this was the day of the grand finale. Everyone – including the famous football and Paul the Octopus – wandered through the breath-taking scenery along the Camino de Santiago and up to Obradoiro Square, where the long awaited finale would take place. The Torwand was set up opposite the cathedral, which was adorned with the giant logo of the Goethe-Institut. Heading up the event were the Mayor of Santiago de Compostela, Gerardo Conde Roa, and the City Councilor for Youth and Sport, Adrián Varela. Both politicians highlighted in their speeches “the importance of the German language as a door opener” in today’s time.

Closing the event, DYKO dedicated a song on his guitar to the football, Paul the Octopus and all the participants. On the flight back to Madrid, Javier said to his teacher that “Although I didn’t win it was great fun. It was an experience I would repeat any time.”