History


The passionate football away for the Deaf DCL
"Deaf Champion League "...

Since the Champions League history has such a high profile via the media in the "hearing world", we want to do the same for Deaf football.
This led us to write the story...

When Armin Dorfschmid and Thomas Krämer were young, they often talked about setting up the DCL. Their desire was to realize this dream and become DCL holders - at that time their club GSG Stuttgart was consistently the strongest Deaf German Club.

They wanted to find a new challenge; the top European teams playing against each other and competing to find out who was the strongest Deaf football team in Europe. Unfortunately, deaf football for financial reasons at that time not could not afford it.

Contact with other European teams at that time was very difficult to achieve because there was no means of communication (internet, phone, video phone, etc.), as there is today. Phone calls were impossible because of our deafness.

With passion they played football at club level and also in the German national team. Due to the major tournaments (Deaflympics, European Championships, World Championships and international tournaments), they were able to get in touch with football fans from other countries and made many new contacts.

In 2006, Thomas Kramer went to London, England where he met Memnos Costi and in that time they talked about football. Eventually, Thomas began to tell of the Deaf Champions League dream. Memnos Costi and his younger brother Marios loved the idea of establishing a Deaf Champions League to ignite a top club competition. Their Club, St Johns Deaf FC was consistently winning in the UK at this time too.

Another idea developed between Thomas and Memnos to use the airline Ryanair, which is known as a cheap airline in Europe as a sponsor, allowing teams to fly anywhere in Europe. But in reality this was just an idea that was not translated into action. Nowadays Deaf people can communicate with other hearing-impaired people through new electronic communication technology, this became a strong link in realizing the “Deaf Champions League” dream.

In winter 2007 Marios Costi, visiting Germany with his friends announced that the English Club St Johns DFC had decided to host the “Deaf Champions League” in London in the summer of 2008. 

St Johns DFC needed the support of other Deaf teams in Europe to begin this and asked GSG Stuttgart to join them in their preparations.

In August 2008, 8 teams attended the first DCL competition: St Johns DFC (GBR), Fulham DFC (GBR), GSG Stuttgart (GER), Globen Sports (DK), St.Vincent Dublin (IRL), CSSM Paris (FRA), Jerez (ESP) and Døvania (DK). The inaugural DCL competition was organized by Memnos Costi, Marios Costi, Matthew Powe, Dean Hunphries, Costakis Costi, John Kouzapas, Chris Stavrou, Lesley Reeves Costi and Austin Reeves. For the initial DCL, everything was going well. The winning team was Globen Sports from Denmark.

Following the Champions League precedent, a new host club was desired for the following year’s tournament. Globen Sports wanted to host initially, but they canceled because they were not sure if they could organize on short notice. However, they were ready to take on the DCL organization to another date.
Since no one was there to host the second tournament, GSG Stuttgart was asked. After some deliberation, the famous footballer Andreas Salzmann agreed, with GSG’s support to become the organizer of the second DCL

The organization team in Stuttgart consisting of Dario Pibernik, Andreas Salzmann, Armin Dorfschmid, Thomas Krämer, Frank Stutz, May-Hutten-David Berger with his team.

10 teams from Europe participated thanks to the technical means of communication.

During the second DCL, numerous ideas were carried out, for example: applications for the third DCL, daily DCL team meeting, draw through a live broadcast aired in the GLZ, film team (Vibelle team Ege Karar with his team, children's programs, indoor tournament with 24 teams (1 day), flags of participating countries to the sports field, etc.

The course of the second DCL was smooth.

The winner of the 2nd DCL was C.D.S. Castellon, Spain. The result you can see on the website RESULTS

From Europe, Madrid and Athens were interested in organizing the third DCL event. At the DCL meeting in Stuttgart were three people (Juan Carlos Basilio, Sebastian Calderon and Daniel Arroba) all the way from Madrid who presented on behalf of their Club. After voting, 10 teams voted for Madrid.

At first DCL Meeting in Amsterdam were Jörg Kratz, Juan Carlos Basilio, Sebastian Calderon and Thomas Krämer present and they talked a lot about the third DCL in Madrid, discussed what they needed to do to ensure that everything ran smoothly. The experience of the organization was brought to the Spaniards: Rule, Schedule, registration, expiration, etc.

At the 2nd DCL Meeting in Madrid in February 2010 the formal Executive DCL Committee was formed - Memnos Costi, Mario Costi, Jörg Kratz, Juan Carlos Basilio, Mariano Druetta, Javier Soto, Thomas Krämer and Armin Dorfschmid. Basilio and Soto were not football players but Deaf althetic supporters, keen to promote more positive Deaf sports events in Europe.

This day was very important for the DCL delegates, because two prominent people from EDSO, Isabelle Malaurie (EDSO-President) from Paris (France) and Andrew Scolding (EDSO TD- football) from London (England) were invited and participated in the DCL Meeting. They wanted to know about the DCL, what future ideas we had and advised us to create an Executive Committee of the DCL to show that we have great interest in working with EDSO. The conversation was very interesting, new experiences were collected and then were the sports fields and stadiums visited. The sports facilities were top class. At the end of the meeting in Madrid said the EDSO their possible "support" in the future. Following this Memnos Costi and Juan Carlos Basilio travelled to speak on behalf of the DCL at the EDSO Congress in Essen (18-19th June 2010) where they were warmly received.

At the 3rd DCL in 2010 the two organizers, Juan Carlos Basilio and Sebastian Calderon from C.D.S. Julumaca (Mostoles of Madrid) gave their best. 11 teams from Europe participated. Unfortunately it did not go smoothly, because it was the first time that such a major event had been organized. However, the Spanish still claimed a great success but the Executive Committee of DCL was less enthusiastic, due to the organization being different. Nevertheless, the DCL complimented the Association of Julumaca given the significant expense.

It was also a new experience for the Executive Committee of DCL to learn about how to co-organize tournaments with other countries in the future. EDSO member Guido Zanecchia Guido from Italy was also present to learn about the DCL Committee and together they discussed how to plan for the future. The third DCL champion winner was St Johns DFC London.

Memnos Costi, meanwhile as DCL President suggested that the fourth DCL should be held in Karlsruhe because of the typical "German culture" of discipline, order and punctuality. They were also experienced in hosting big tournaments of this kind. The DCL agreed, partly because no other country had put themselves forward to host. Jörg Kratz, director of the Football GSV Karlsruhe also agreed. He was appointed as chief organizer of Karlsruhe.
At the 3rd DCL meeting was in November 2010 in Winterthur (Switzerland) Memnos Costi, Mario Costi, Jörg Kratz, Juan Carlos Basilio, Mariano Druetta, Javier Soto and Thomas Krämer were present and there were many different things discussed and agreed, especially the rules and regulations, confirmation of the draw, and confirmation of the teams competing at the4th DCL in Karlsruhe (Germany).
The meeting in Madrid in April 2011 was not planned. Through a private tour in northern Spain, Armin Dorfschmid and Thomas Krämer took the opportunity and met with Javier Soto and Juan Carlos Basilio to talk about DCL, so it was an impromptu meeting. They spoke generally about DCL issues, it was a short conversation, but also important.

In the 4th DCL 2011 in Karlsruhe, Jörg Kratz had done a lot of great work and introduced many ideas. The DCL-Committee were impressed by Jörg's work very much and is already convinced that this will be the start of very good organization in the history of DCL. Great respect goes out to GSV Karlsruhe for their hosting and ensuring a good cooperation between the club and the Executive Committee of DCL!

The DCL’s next goal was for 12 or 16 teams to participate at the 4th DCL, but unfortunately it did not work, possibly because of scheduling difficulties due to the European Deaf Football Championships held in Odense (Denmark) in June 2011. Nine teams entered in the 4th DCL in Karlsruhe in 2011 and the DCL wants to thank them most sincerely for their support. The fourth DCL champion winner was St Johns DFC London.

In January 2012, Memnos Costi and Juan Carlos Basilio will go to Athens to inspect the organization of 5th DCL 2012 that will hosted by POK Athens for 27-30th April 2012. The meeting of executive committee will be held in London on 4th February 2012 to keep working and improving the quality of DCL.
The Executive Committee of DCL is also considering how best to develop the grassroots of football, especially the youth in order to promote football in Europe. The DCL also wishes for great support and co-operation in the future with EDSO.

We wish all visitors and members of participating teams with a lot of pleasure in the next events.

For more information, can consult the following website of DCL that we have recently created: www.deafchampionsleague.eu

DCL in Karlsruhe in 2011 and the DCL wants to thank them most sincerely for their support. The fourth DCL champion winner was St Johns DFC London. In January 2012, Memnos Costi and Juan Carlos Basilio will go to Athens to inspect the organization of 5th DCL 2012 that will hosted by POK Athens for 27-30th April 2012.

The meeting of executive committee will be held in London on 4th February 2012 to keep working and improving the quality of DCL.

The Executive Committee of DCL is also considering how best to develop the grassroots of football, especially the youth in order to promote football in Europe. The DCL also wishes for great support and co-operation in the future with EDSO.

We wish all visitors and members of participating teams with a lot of pleasure in the next events.

For more information, can consult the following website of DCL that we have recently created:  www.deafchampionsleague.eu