The Ball 2010

This film is one of what is apparently going to be a series of 50 short films about football in Africa. Here’s what they have to say about it on YouTube:

Our ambition, a year before the world cup 2010 in South-Africa, is to portray a positive vision of Africa, an Africa that lives, thrives, and enthuses on football. The films and portraits will bring to life moments: poignant, funny, and poetic stories and stills that reflect the imagination and energy that belong to the African soil. The authentic and loveable African spirit brought to life in a simple, memorable and relevant way. An honest, grass root portrayal of football made in Africa.

I can’t wait to see the other films, if this one is anything to go by.

This year’s Homeless World Cup started on Monday. You can follow the action via their YouTube channel and group, though at time of writing, it’s only the Scots who have posted anything to it. Far less personal (but way more anthemic) is this offering from Team Philippines:

The Ball wishes all the participants the best of luck and the best of times.

A nice example of football coverage which doesn’t include professional pundits, commentators or stars…

Props to From A Left Wing for the heads up and Arroyo Seco Films for the trailer.

Here’s Todo Alemán‘s trailer for their website, from their YouTube channel:

Andrew Aris gives us a sneak preview of The Ball 2010:

Andrew and Christian present The Ball

Am 28. August 2009 wurden im Goethe-Institut New York die Partner „The Ball“, dem Symbol für grenzüberschreitende Einheit durch Fußball, und Todo Alemán, das neue interkulturelle und interaktive Webportal des Goethe-Instituts, offiziell vorgestellt. „The Ball“ wird Teil dieses neuen Angebots sein und soll auf diese Weise Deutschlehrern und allen anderen Interessierten die Möglichkeit geben, die Reise zur bevorstehenden Fußball-Weltmeisterschaft in Südafrika mit ihren Schülern virtuell zu begleiten und ihnen so die deutsche Sprache näher zu bringen.

All present and correct: Phil attends via Skype

Thanks to everyone who came along and our special thanks to Michael Höfig and the Goethe Institut of New York for their warm hospitality. We look forward to working with you.

The Ball is going to be an official part of Todo Alemán‘s launch in New York City on Friday August 28th, where The Ball’s partners to date for the 2010 journey will be named.

Andrew in the USA to prepare for the NY launch of Todo Alemán

In September, The Ball will again be a guest of the Goethe Institut — this time in Berlin for the Languages without Borders event.

October 16th in Erfurt’s Thüringen Halle: Our counterpart, Spirit of Football e.V. is organsing a youth football event that will be the highpoint of a week long international youth football culture exchange. The Ball will be the special guest of honour.

Al Mole, a good friend of The Ball, told us about his recent foray to Morocco:

We drove up to this god forsaken place called Oukaimeden, about 3000 metres above sea level in the Toubkal Atlas, near the highest peak in Northern Africa apparently. It’s a ski resort for about 6 weeks of the year, the rest of the time it’s a ghost town inhabited by a handful of Berbers it seems – I was expecting to see ski lifts and Pistes, but instead there’s a football pitch right up on the side of the mountain. What you might call an open goal!

We also came across Sunday league football in Essaouira – they’re all kitted up with refs and trophies and stuff, but but they mark out a pitch on the sands when the tide’s out and bung a couple of goals in and the crowd all sit on the sea wall and watch. Kick off times depend on the tide!

Spirit of Football CIC and the Goethe-Institut are now officially partners. Andrew Aris, one of Spirit of Football’s three directors, and Michael Hoefig from the Goethe-Institut of New York signed off on a comprehensive memorandum of understanding on Sunday August 10th in Atlanta, Georgia.

Andrew and Michael work hard on the agreement

The Goethe-Institut is getting ready to launch an interactive, three language, youth web portal named Todo Alemán, which will include a blog about The Ball and its journey from London to Johannesburg next year. This blog, which will be in English and German, will enable young people to learn via The Ball about the geographies, histories and cultures of the countries The Ball passes through in Europe and Africa en route to Johannesburg and the FIFA World Cup Opening Ceremony in June.

Time to practice for the game ahead

This blog will enable German language teachers to integrate The Ball’s epic third journey into their curriculum via the interactive platform of Todo Alemán. This will take place initially in classrooms across North America but we hope this can be expanded to encompass the entire Goethe Institut network by the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

Andrew Aris meets the Mayor of Kati and his assistant

The Ball will visit Kati, a town in Mali’s Koulikoro Region, about 15km from Bamako, Mali’s capital. Kati has a population of approximately 40,000 inhabitants.

Kati’s football-mad Mayor Hamala Houdaia has even invited us to visit him in his office for a game of keepie-uppie, and suggested that the city administration organise a football game with Kati’s semi-professional team that plays in the Malian 2nd division.

Footballs in Kati are prized assets and locals use some interesting techniques to repair them when they get damaged. We are looking forward to investigating this and learning about local culture during our home stay with local Malaian families in March 2010 en route to the 2010 World Cup.

boston.com has just published a set of beautiful pictures of football in South Africa during the Confederations Cup. Included in the set are recent photos of how the construction of the Soccer City stadium is coming along. This stadium will be hosting the Opening Ceremony and is the final destination of The Ball as it travels from England.