A group of children with girls and boys were just playing football here, now young men who work in the electrical division of a car manufacturer and use their evenings for team building are playing football on the rooftop sports field of Bellevue di Monaco. It’s a late Thursday afternoon in October, and what can be observed up here on the house on the corner of Müllerstrasse and Corneliusstrasse represents part of the concept. “This is exactly what we wanted: an extraordinary sports facility that is accessible to all Munich residents,” says Matthias Groeneveld, who coordinates the occupancy of the playing field.
On Sunday, the rooftop sports field has been there for exactly three years. But one can only speak of an anniversary to a limited extent. Although the course was opened on October 15, 2020, it has only been used for around a year and a half since then. “It didn’t really start until spring 2022,” says Rüdiger Heid. Shortly after the opening, they had to close again because of the Corona requirements, says the founder and partner of “Bunt kickt gut”, the street football initiative that has been committed to intercultural exchange and integration for more than 25 years.
Refugees live in Bellevue di Monaco. Around ten years ago the building was supposed to be demolished to make room for a new building for investors. There was resistance to this, which was organized by current Bellevue board member Till Hofmann and in which Sportfreunde Stiller, among others, took part. Hofmann already had the idea for the rooftop sports field back then. Apart from the difficult circumstances at the beginning due to the pandemic, this is “an absolute success concept,” says Heid, “the demand is huge.”
You can play here for free between 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. from Monday to Friday after prior registration with “Bunt kickt gut”, as well as on Saturday and Sunday between ten a.m. and 4 p.m. Heid believes that the extraordinary sports facility is “a highlight for Munich, from a social and architectural point of view as well as when it comes to the question of how to make spaces in a city usable. The rooftop sports field thus raises awareness in many different directions.”
It is also a pretty unique football field far beyond Munich. The playing field measures nine by 13 meters or 117 square meters. At a height of almost 21 meters above the street, the kickers run after the ball on a tartan surface. The space is surrounded by a steel support structure into which fluorescent tubes are embedded. These bathe the square in a golden light in the evening hours. An all-round grid is attached to the steel beams to prevent people or balls from falling.
Matthias Groeneveld (right) coordinates the occupancy of the playing field and is the deputy head of “Bunt kickt gut”. Rüdiger Heid is the founder and partner of the initiative.
(Photo: Catherina Hess)
The roof sports field is located almost 21 meters above the street and is surrounded by an all-round grid.
(Photo: Stephan Rumpf)
There is no doubt about the stability, says Groeneveld, the deputy director of “Bunt kickt gut”, and the grid construction is “predator tested”. What sounds funny is not a joke. “This construction is used in zoos for big cat enclosures. The grid keeps tigers out,” explains Groeneveld. Such a predator can weigh up to 300 kilograms.
Lions are also said to have played on the rooftop sports field, including former 1860 young footballer Robert Glatzel, who now scores his goals for Hamburger SV in the second Bundesliga. Some even better-known current and former footballers have also been here, from Bastian Schweinsteiger to Uli Hoeneß and Lothar Matthäus to Lilian Thuram. The French world champion from 1998 came by on a book tour and played with the children from “Bunt kickt gut” with a view over Munich. Among the current Bayern professionals, Manuel Neuer, Joshua Kimmich and Serge Gnabry have already visited the rooftop sports field. A video clip was filmed there with Gnabry. They only rarely allow such exceptions and only if they result in a donation to finance the running costs, emphasizes Heid. After all, the space is not used for commercial purposes.
FC Bayern contributed to financing the construction of the pitch, as did several companies, and there were also private donations. “It was a few hundred thousand euros,” says Christian Ganzer, the co-founder of Bellevue di Monaco, about the construction costs. “The running costs per year are in the first third of the five-figure range,” adds Heid. A foundation recently withdrew, which currently raises the question of how the running costs will be covered in the future. The only thing that matters is that the rooftop sports field is a facility “that is not economically profitable, but socially profitable,” he emphasizes.
There is no celebration, but there are wishes for the next three years
The Bellevue di Monaco social cooperative owns the house and therefore also the roof sports field. It was named after Kurt Landauer, the former Jewish president of FC Bayern, who fled the Nazis to Switzerland and who returned to the club after the war. “Kurt Landauer is an example of how fleeing is a life-saving measure,” says Ganzer, “there are not only people who flee here, but there were also people who had to leave here and survived because other countries they have taken in”. Within sight of the roof sports field is the Jewish Center and Museum on Sankt-Jakobs-Platz.
The three-year anniversary should not be celebrated. But there are already wishes for the next three years. This includes the hope that the city will allow longer periods of use from spring 2024. The square is also “intended as a model, as a visible source of inspiration for an idea that should be passed on,” says Heid. Groeneveld adds: “It would be nicest if in three years we could say: This was the first rooftop sports field of its kind, there are now three. We have managed to set up several such meeting places for the city of Munich and beyond.”