Successful 5th BolzplatzCup in Jena

While the soccer world prepares for the 2026 World Cup, another aspect of soccer was honored in Germany this year: the culture of pickup soccer was added to the National Register of Intangible Cultural Heritage. This recognition honors a soccer culture that stands for free play on publicly accessible fields, mutually agreed-upon rules, and social interaction.

The Bolzplatz Cup Jena has been embodying this very idea for five years now. The fifth edition of the Bolzplatz Cup culminated in a grand final day on June 20. The qualifying teams from four Jena neighborhoods came together once again and turned the final into a small neighborhood festival, where sports, socializing, and fair play were equally in the spotlight.

The Bolzplatz Cup was already fully booked with 24 teams during the four qualifying tournaments. Teens and young adults aged 14 to 21 played their way through the neighborhood tournaments to reach the finals. Leuna Athletics secured the overall victory, thereby earning the right to have their name engraved on the Bolzplatz Cup’s traveling trophy for the first time. However, since its inception, the Bolzplatz Cup has deliberately seen itself as more than just a soccer tournament. Before each tournament, the teams worked together to develop their own set of rules that went far beyond traditional fair-play guidelines. To give all teams a good chance at exciting matches, the young people agreed, for example, to allow penalty-kick starts for younger teams or to let teams add extra field players when they were trailing. The solutions were as diverse as the young people themselves.

A High Degree of Personal Responsibility Required

The organizing team would like to express its sincere thanks to all participants who embraced this special process. The Bolzplatz Cup demands personal responsibility, self-reflection, and a willingness to resolve conflicts through dialogue. Skills such as negotiating, finding compromises, and taking responsibility are often only marginally visible in traditional competitive sports—at the Bolzplatz Cup, they take center stage.

Once again, the spirit of fair play was at least as important as athletic success. Thanks to the support of the Jena Fan Project, the Fair Play Award was significantly enhanced this year. For the first time, the main prize was not awarded to the tournament-winning team, but to all the Fair Play winners. They can look forward to a group trip to Berlin, including attendance at a Hertha BSC game.

“For us, the BolzplatzCup is far more than just a soccer tournament. Here, young people who could hardly be more different come together and find common ground through sports. It’s always particularly impressive to see how they embrace the space, grapple with their perceptions and emotions, and articulate them. The fact that the tournament operates without referees and is based on fair play makes this process visible: The young people take on responsibility, resolve conflicts themselves, and learn that mutual respect and dialogue are just as important as goals,” 

says Anna-Liddy Müller, director of Fanprojekt Jena.

“Of course, the BolzplatzCup is about competition on the field—but it’s about much more than just sports. Through the tournament and its supporting program, the organizers are taking a clear stand against discrimination. “I’d like to thank the team at KoKont Jena, Streetwork Lobeda, and the Jena Fan Project very much for this important commitment to democracy and fair play—both on and off the field,” 

said Johannes Schleußner, Head of the Sports Department.

More Than Just a Game—Even Off the Field

The Bolzplatz Cup has also been further developed this year off the field. The exhibition “More Than Just a Game,” already familiar from previous years, has been expanded to include the perspective of politically active fan communities. It shows how soccer can open up spaces for democratic participation, co-determination, and social dialogue.

This also led to the creation of a new interactive scenario game, which can be borrowed along with the exhibition in the future and enables its long-term use in educational work.

“Together with KoKont, we developed a scenario-based game this year that takes participants on a journey through stadiums around the world and meaningfully complements the exhibition. This creates spaces for dialogue and reflection on social issues—issues for which soccer often serves as a gateway, but which extend far beyond the sport itself,” 

says Moritz Jahns, a media educator from Bonn.

Shortly before the start of the World Cup, journalist Ronny Blaschke was also a guest at the KuBus Lobeda. His lecture offered a critical look at the political, economic, and social interconnections of the world’s largest soccer tournament and added an international perspective to the Bolzplatz Cup.

A joint project of Jena’s youth services

The Bolzplatz Cup is a collaborative project between Streetwork Winzerla, Streetwork Lobeda, the Jena Fan Project, and KoKont. For five years, the project has been continuously evolving through close cooperation among the organizations and the involvement of participants.

“The greatest success of the Bolzplatz Cup isn’t the challenge cup. It’s the realization that the Bolzplatz is far more than just a soccer field. For five years now, together with our partners, we’ve been bringing this unique Bolzplatz culture in Jena to the forefront. Here, young people take on responsibility, negotiate rules, and experience a sense of community—all as a matter of course. Over the past five years, we’ve impressively demonstrated that the Bolzplatz, as a space for negotiation, offers enormous potential for educational work. At the same time, it’s no small feat to get such a collaborative project off the ground year after year. To ensure that the Bolzplatz Cup can continue to take place in the future, the participating organizations need reliable framework conditions and planning certainty,” 

says Eric Vasold, co-founder of the Bolzplatz Cup and a street worker for the City of Jena.

The fact that “Bolzplatz” culture was recognized this year as Intangible Cultural Heritage in Germany confirms, from the organizers’ perspective, the educational value of such projects. The soccer field is far more than just a place to play soccer—it’s a space where young people take on responsibility, negotiate rules, and experience democratic cooperation firsthand.

However, the Bolzplatz Cup isn’t over yet with the final day. In the coming weeks, the schedule includes the Junior Cup as well as other accompanying events. Whether the Bolzplatz Cup will be able to hold its sixth edition in 2027 is still up in the air. The organizing team hopes to continue this success story together with its partners and with the participation of the young people involved—so that the Bolzplatz remains a place where fair play, democratic negotiation, and community go hand in hand as a matter of course.