Press Release

Braunschweig, 10 October 2023. Volkswagen Financial Services (VW FS) are starting the second round of their successful program to sponsor and promote young sports talent. Top talents aged 13 to 23 from all over Lower Saxony – regardless of whether they are team or individual athletes – can now apply for a one-year sponsorship contract through the website https://sporttalente.vwfs.com/. The Volkswagen Group's financial and mobility services provider is providing up to one million euros in funding for these young athletes over the medium term.

The sponsorship program to support young sporting talents had its premiere last year and the response was tremendous: 409 athletes and teams applied, and 27 were selected by a jury that included national soccer player Alexandra Popp from the club VfL Wolfsburg and former Olympic biathlon champion Arnd Peiffer. The current selection committee includes Frank Fiedler, the CFO of VW FS, and Volker Stadler, the head of Volkswagen Bank.

"Our support program for young sports talent has quickly become a success story. We feel validated in our decision at the time to change course in our sponsorship strategy and focus more strongly on promoting young talent alongside our existing commitments to top-level sports. We are therefore pleased to be able to support talented up-and-coming athletes even in times that have become more difficult economically," said Frank Fiedler. Volker Stadler stressed: "We have been committed to professional sport for years, but fostering and developing young talent towards success in top-class sport is also close to our hearts. That's why we are happy to continue one of the largest funding programs for Lower Saxony's young sportsmen and women and look forward to receiving many applications from all over the state."

Once again, a jury will select the athletes and teams to be sponsored by Volkswagen Financial Services. The most prominent new member is Almuth Schult, who succeeds German soccer international Alexandra Popp from VfL Wolfsburg. The longtime teammate of Popp and World's Best Female Goalkeeper (2014) is one of the most successful German women footballers with six German championship wins, eight cup victories, and national team triumphs in the European Championship (2013) and the Olympic Games (2016). Also on the panel representing the Olympic Training Center Lower Saxony is Kathrin Boron, a four-time Olympic gold medalist and eight-time world champion in rowing.

And here's how sports talents can apply:

The application phase starts now and ends on 15 November 2023. The application form for the VW FS young sporting talent sponsorship program can be found on the website https://sporttalente.vwfs.com/ along with the funding guidelines. Individual athletes or teams can be funded with up to EUR 50,000 – based on a projection of the costs to be incurred that must also be submitted. This means that the funding amount comprises all the costs incurred for practicing the sport and preparing for competitions during the sponsorship period, such as travel and transport expenses, costs for training camps, coaching fees, and sports equipment.

Additional requirements: Sports talents aged from 13 to 23 are eligible for funding. This age limit regulation applies to the contract year/funding year. For funding in 2024, the young talents must therefore be born in the years from 2001 to 2011 (inclusive). The same age regulation applies to teams, which must have at least 80 percent of team members within the age range. For example, if a team has ten members, eight talents must be between the ages of 13 and 23, one talent can be 11 years old, and another talent can be 25 years old.

Volkswagen Financial Services are a business division of the Volkswagen AG group of companies and comprise Volkswagen Financial Services AG along with its associated companies, Volkswagen Bank GmbH, Porsche Financial Services, and the financial services companies in the USA and Canada that belong directly or indirectly to Volkswagen AG – with the exception of the financial service business of the Scania brand and of Porsche Holding Salzburg. The key business fields embrace dealer and customer financing, leasing, bank and insurance activities, fleet management and mobility services. Volkswagen Financial Services have a total of 17,713 employees worldwide – including 7,692 alone in Germany. Volkswagen Financial Services report total assets of around EUR 240 billion, an operating profit of EUR 5.60 billion, and a portfolio of around 22.0 million current contracts (as at: 31.12.2022).