When the housing estate becomes a football pitch

09/02/2026 | Sport & Health

A girl and a boy playing football — Photo: ©SOS Children's Villages

A mobile mini-stadium, plenty of exercise and football right on your doorstep: through the ‘Heimspiel’ project, SOS Children’s Villages and the City of Salzburg have now been promoting physical activity in Salzburg’s housing estates for six football seasons. The idea behind it is as simple as it is effective: children aged between four and ten should be given the opportunity, in their immediate neighbourhood, to play sport together, make new friends and discover public spaces as places to play.

Around 650 children took part

The results from this year’s season show just how well the scheme has been received. Between early May and mid-July, the mobile Bankerl Arena visited six different neighbourhoods in Salzburg. Around 650 children took part – including 450 boys and nearly 200 girls. The programme is becoming increasingly popular, particularly amongst girls. The children are supervised by trained educators from SOS Children’s Villages.

Siblings are also eagerly looking forward to their first go: “At last I was able to take part in the home match this year. I’d been really looking forward to it, because my siblings have been playing along for the last few years. This year it was finally my turn, and it was great fun,” said one young participant.

Wolfgang Arming, site manager of the SOS Children’s Village in Salzburg: “We’re delighted that, now in the sixth season of the ‘Heimspiel’ project, we’ve been able to reach so many children. Not least thanks to the support from housing providers, we can reach out to the children in their familiar surroundings and inspire a love of sport in them. Sport has been proven to be essential for children’s motor development and health. With the ‘Nachspiel’ season, we can reach even more children in other parts of the city with our trained educators.

‘Nachspiel’ season extends the football fun

Due to its huge success, ‘Heimspiel’ is going into extra time: until 25 September, there will be weekly football sessions in three further housing estates. Kick-off is at 3 pm on each occasion; no registration is required. This ensures the programme remains deliberately low-threshold and easily accessible to children from the neighbourhood. The match dates for the ‘Nachspiel’ season:

Strong partners make the project possible

The fact that ‘Heimspiel’ can take place directly within Salzburg’s housing estates is also thanks to the commitment of the housing developers involved. gswb plays a central role in this, having supported the project for years as a reliable partner. Not only does it make space available in its housing estates, but it also plays a key role in ensuring that the exercise programme reaches the very places where the children live. Green spaces and open areas between the blocks of flats are thus transformed into places for exercise and socialising.

For gswb, this is about more than simply promoting sporting activities: ‘Heimspiel’ strengthens community spirit within the housing estates and creates opportunities for children to be active together, make new friends and experience their immediate neighbourhood as a shared space for play and daily life.

gswb Managing Director Ferdinand Hochleitner sums up this aim: “‘Heimspiel’ shows just how much can be achieved with a simple idea. Our green spaces become meeting places where children play football together, get active and make new friends. We’re delighted to support this project alongside other partners and, in doing so, bring a sense of community directly into our housing estates.”

#absolutelybrilliant when housing estates become football arenas.