Brazil – a country that has shaped football like no other! It is one of the most successful footballing nations in the world – with stars such as Pelé, Ewerthon, Amoroso, Dede and Rivaldo – and the passion for the game there is unbridled. With his excitement levels at 1909%, BVB Evonik Soccer Academy coach Mohamed Kabouchi travelled the 9132.71 kilometres to Brazil at the beginning of the year.

His mission: to organise a Brazilian football festival for 90 young players of different ages. Together with six coaches working in the South American country, the BVB coach visited various sites belonging to the Colegio Humboldt in Sao Paulo. Despite the occasional rainfall (and in moderate temperatures of 25°C) the team put on some intense training sessions for the ambitious kids. It didn't take long to work out why representatives of the press were especially excited at the site belonging to the German school on the Valinhos campus: Marcio Amoroso dos Santos, who was once regarded as the best striker in the world, attended a training session for almost 30 young players there. 

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There was further evidence of the public interest on the last day of this action-packed trip as the coaching team held a final training session at Jorge Weckwerth's football academy. Henrique Ewerthon de Souza, who became a German champion with BVB in 2002, showed the enthusiastic kids how to get past any opponent with speed. The young players at every site enjoyed not only intense football experiences, but emotional highlights on and off the pitch too! Mohamed Kabouchi said of his trip: "As a coach of the BVB Evonik Soccer Academy, I didn't need to bring passion for football to this wonderful country; but we were able to experience it together!"