We offered a varied program for our students in the afternoon to get into mood for the evening game. Smaller children had the opportunity to earn the DFB football badge. The older ones 'battled' in large numbers in our Mini World Cup, which was played on our beach soccer fields. Many goals were celebrated in 22 exciting games.

We are grateful that a team of children from the ISCO foundation made all their way from North Jakarta to our BSD campus to participate in our afternoon-program, and hope to welcome them at our school more often.

In the finals Team Ghana prevailed against Team South Korea. In addition, guests could try their skills at our goal wall and win their very own World Cup Trophy. Further great prizes were up for grabs in our Balls Guessing Game.

After the children had exhausted themselves, an extensive buffet was opened and our stage program began. Here, as the German School Jakarta, we first clarified our position on human rights, as we see it as our task to raise awareness that football should not be the sole focus of this World Cup. Students had pre-recorded video statements which were played for our audience. Human rights are non-negotiable and are lived daily at the DSJ!

To get the party really started, our school band played several catchy songs which encouraged the audience to dance and sing along, rocking the house by the time Y.M.C.A. was performed.

To officially welcome the community and kick-off the main part of the evening, our German Ambassador Ina Lepel and a representative of the Japanese Embassy gave short greetings. Our teacher Frau Visser welcomed our foreign guests in perfect Japanese plus we presented a video message from Japan international Ko Itakura of Borussia Mönchengladbach.

Now everyone was ready for an exciting evening of football, which from a German point of view unfortunately did not play out as hoped for. Nevertheless, the game was exciting with many opportunities for both sides and the mood was fantastic! We were happy for our Japanese friends and congratulated them after the final whistle. For sure they will cherish and remember this special evening at the German School Jakarta.

A great thank you to everyone who helped make this event a success, especially our main organizer and tireless MC Michael Curdts — what a day!