Goal-oriented for a better life: Baykomm - Bayer Kommunikationszentrum

Special Story

Goal-oriented for a better life

They all want to be counted among the greats of course – as famous as Ronaldinho. And to escape the poverty experienced by their parents’ generation. To achieve this goal, the 350 children and young people in Belford Roxo, Brazil, train several times a week. They are between eight and 17 years old, and their proudest possession is their blue soccer shirt with the white Bayer logo. For most, it is the first soccer shirt they’ve ever owned.

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Today practice is particularly tough: sprints, headers and tactical awareness training, over and over again. Just like their idols. Coach José Calixto is pleased about the ambition displayed by his players. And he knows the reason for it: after all, it is a great honor to be accepted into the Bayer soccer academy.

The company established the academy in 1991. The goal was to enable training particularly for needy children in the athletic facilities just behind the Bayer site. The facility is run by experts, and it also provides the boys with medical and psychological care. After all, the academy has never regarded itself as a source of talent for professional clubs. From the very beginning, the goal was to get children and young people off the streets.

That’s why acceptance into the academy to this day is linked to a non-negotiable condition: if the children want to practice with the team, they have to attend school – and be able to demonstrate that they get good grades. As a result, more than 4,000 players to date have matured into promising up-and-coming soccer players. And of course all of them have successfully completed their school education.

In addition, more than 2,000 children and young people from throughout the region compete in the soccer championship organized each year by Bayer, when for a brief period of time Belford Roxo transforms from a social problem area into a hub of youth soccer.

As early as 1993, the company was awarded the ECO Prize by the American Chamber of Commerce for exemplary social efforts in connection with its soccer academy. As Jandira da Penha, President of the Association of Citizens’ Organizations in Belford Roxo, confirms: “If Bayer didn’t provide such exemplary assistance, many children would suffer an unavoidable fate: a life of squalor on the streets – without a school education and thus without the prospect of a job and a better quality of life.”

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“Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go!” José Calixto shouts in the direction of the field, and his players dribble around the little flags as if their lives depended on it. The coach can explain this: “Next up are the shooting accuracy drills using the goal wall – and the kids are in a hurry because they’ve been looking forward to this the whole time.”

Incidentally, anyone who wants to try this for themselves can do so in the “Corporate Social Responsibility” exhibition room at the Bayer Communication Center (BayKomm) in Leverkusen.