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BSC Agrispor Berlin


What began on a street in the Berlin suburb of Kreuzberg in 1991 quickly became a project like no other in the country. The coach of Agrispor Football Club spotted the girls playing football and, despite some resistance from home, brought them into the club. Word soon spread about the team that played without long trousers and veils and were successful to boot.

Football offered the girls a self-defined space of community away from their parents and established role models. They were promoted to the second highest division and in time were joined by German players.

"There was a great bond between us and this was the reason why the players declined offers from other clubs", says former player Gabriele Türkan, who remembers that xenophobic comments were the order of the day. One player fought back and was suspended for two years - the toughest punishment ever imposed on a woman by a sports tribunal.

After passing through puberty parents, husbands, further education and busy schedules turned against the game. They were to stop "running around showing their legs" when men were looking. And when the coach left on top of this, in 2001, the team broke up. In 2005 Türkan started building a girls' team at Türkiyemspor Berlin. Her daughter now trains with her as well.

BSV Al-Dersimspor

Al-Dersimspor are a multinational team. Almost all the players grew up in the Berlin district of Kreuzberg. Their parents come from Turkey, Greece, Tunisia, Palestine and Germany. Teams like these are still a rarity. The players started out at clubs that were largely all-German or all-Turkish. They got to know each other at a tournament and, as they were either unattached or unhappy at their various clubs, they decided to set up a new team.

Former Turkey internationals Mehtap Ardahanli and Safiye Kok (ex-Agrispor) became their coaches. They got in touch with the Turkish club BSV Al-Dersimspor, who were happy to take the players on. For both the German and the migrant players in the team, getting to know people from different communities with whom they had had hardly any personal contact until then was a totally new experience. An impressive atmosphere within the club and deep friendships between the players soon developed - a basis for their success. In their very first season they achieved promotion with ease and featured at the top of the table even in the higher division.