“Maybe you’re a zero after all”

Kai Havertz wants to make society a little bit better with his new foundation. “I can’t change the world, but I can change a part of my world by helping,” said the Chelsea FC professional in an interview with the Süddeutsche Zeitung on the founding day of his initiative on Wednesday.

“In my family we always wanted to help people and animals. That was always there,” said the 23-year-old: “The feeling that I’m in a position where I can help and give something back to society has grown stronger and stronger . The fact that this has now become a foundation has a lot to do with the flood disaster of 2021.”

From the plane he observed “how terrible the damage was” and tried to help even then. He has also campaigned for war victims in Ukraine. “But those were isolated actions that didn’t satisfy me. I now want to bundle these activities with the foundation.”

Although he lives in a bubble as a football professional and national player, he is “not blind to the fact that many people have to live in degrading conditions,” Havertz emphasized. “It touches me,” he said about issues such as poverty in old age, homelessness, problems faced by children and young people, and dealing with animals.

Havertz benefits indirectly from his commitment. “I think it’s healthy to have something that’s important to me and not to think about football 24/7,” he said.

When he was younger, he spent a lot of time on social media and, when he was criticized, “also thought: Maybe they’re right. Maybe you’re a zero after all. Or an idiot.” Such thoughts “hit you all the harder when there’s nothing for you but football. It was like that back then: football had my life under control.”