Leonardo Albajari, an alumnus of the FIFA/CIES Executive Programme organised with Universidad Católica Argentina (2011), received an Honorary Prize during the 2018 edition of the Julius Hirsch Prize held on 18th November at the German Football Federation (DFB) football museum in Dortmund.
The Prize was created by the DFB in 2005 as a tribute to Julius Hirsch, a German Jewish footballer who played 7 international matches for Germany from 1911 to 1913. For most of his career, he played for the SpVgg Greuther Fürth and Karlsruher FV clubs. Julius Hirsch was deported to Auschwitz on 1st March 1943 where he was later tragically killed. The date of his death is unknown.
With the slogan “Never again”, the Prize rewards individuals, clubs or initiatives with exemplary impact - on football pitches, as fans, within clubs or in civil society - on the inviolability of human dignity and in the fight to tackle racism, antisemitism, xenophobia, exclusions and discrimination.
The Honorary Prize awarded in 2018 rewards a project designed by journalist Leonardo Albajari entitled “It wasn’t a game”, which showcases 11 stories of football during Nazism and the Holocaust.
Amongst these, we have the story of Austrian football star Matthias Sindelar, known as the “Mozart of Football”, who refused to play for the “Third Reich” following the annexation of Austria by Germany in 1938. He was found dead at his home some time later as a result of carbon monoxide poisoning.
The project also refers to Schalke 04, a team thought to have been Hitler’s favourite, and the “Terezin League” at the Theresienstadt transit camp and ghetto between 1942 and 1944. It played an ambiguous role given that although it allowed Jewish prisoners to “escape their tragic condition for a few moments thanks to football”, it also served to support Nazi propaganda according to which prisoners there were leading “a normal life”.
For Leonardo Albajari, the projects - in the form of a travelling exhibition - make use of history to raise awareness among young people, in particular football players, on the dangers of discrimination and of all forms of racism in society and on the football pitch.
The winner received the Honorary Prize from Reinhard Rauball, current president of Borussia Dortmund, in the presence of DFB President Reinhard Grindel. This is the first time that the jury has awarded the prize to a project from outside Germany.
We extend our congratulations to Leonardo for his contribution to a spirit of tolerance in sport and in football.