There was huge joy amongst the 130 plus children from the ages of seven to 17 when World Cup winner Paulo Sergio and the former player Rodrigo Chagas joined in. In brilliant weather and a relaxed mood, Sergio asked the children who was their favourite club in Rio and most said CR Flamengo. The children celebrated as loudly when a surprise guest appeared at the ground, known to them from social media: Brabogordinho, the biggest Brazilian football influencer.
But the great significance of community projects like the Bayer AG Football School amongst all the joy of the morning was also evident amongst the participants. Rodrigo Chagas looked back at his time at his only foreign club at Bayer 04 in the 1995/96 season with emotion: "For me today is a very special day. The fact I could experience something like this here for Bayer 04 and with Paulo makes me very happy. He helped us as a family back then when we came to Germany. My wife was pregnant, everything was new to us and they lived right near us and that was brilliant. I'm very grateful for the year in Leverkusen and my son Felipe was born there. German culture still helps me today in everything I do. I was last in Leverkusen in 1996 and I would be very happy to go back again one day.
On the commitment of Bayer AG, including with the football school, the former full-back said: "Projects like these open eyes and show that children need projects like that to avoid having bad thoughts. Bayer AG and now Bayer 04 are really backing this project and that's enormously important for the country. I'm proud to be a small part of it."
The value of this work, above all with children in areas as in the suburbs of Rio de Janeiro, is also familiar to Keld Bordinggaard, head of coaching at Bayer 04, who was also there: "Here it's the person who counts and not the footballer and his talent. Everybody is welcome here, the door is always open. Projects like this are of immeasurable value for society – and football can play a big part there. At the end of the day, every coach, regardless of level, has an inclusive task to fulfil. We must never forget that even at a professional club like Bayer 04. Here you can see what's really important."
One of those coaches is Leandro Oliveira. He said about the work at the Bayer 04 Football School: "For us here there is one target: to keep the children away from drugs and violence. A day like today gives us lots of strength to be here and to continue the project."
Wander also led a training group. For him the visits to the Bayer AG Football School takes him back to his own childhood. "I grew up a few minutes away from here in Pavuna and I played a couple of youth matches here at this ground. I'm back here for the first time in more than 25 years. It's something very special for me," said the 36-year-old former player at Apoel Nicosia (Cyprus) and other European clubs, who joined the youth set-up at CR Flamengo at the age of seven where he played alongside former Leverkusen player Renato Augusto. Today he is a coach at the Bayer 04 Football Academy in São Paolo. Another Bayer 04 community project in Brazil…
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