"The Street Soccer League brings together young people from all over the city," said former Hamburg Mayor Henning Voscherau.

As a member of the jury awarding the "Hamburg Tulip for German-Turkish Public Spirit," he praised the scheme for giving young people an opportunity to break down cultural prejudices.

"Encouraging young people to get to know each other through playing is definitely a winning project," he said.

50 years of experience

Some 8 million people of non-German extraction currently live in Germany, and one in four children born here has at least one non-German parent.

To many, the sobering results of the last Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) study proved first and foremost that Germany still isn't a functioning multicultural society.

But as a third generation of immigrants begins to come of age, Germany can at least point to a number of projects that show that integration is possible.

The Körber Foundation is one of them. Set up as a nonprofit organization in Hamburg in 1959 by the engineer, inventor, entrepreneur and patron Kurt Körber to fund minority group community projects, the Körber Foundation now has some €10 million ($13 million) to spend on a total of 15 projects -- including a publishing house, a kindergarten, a civic center and an archive.

With almost fifty years experience of intercultural exchange to its name, the Körber Foundation spearheads efforts in Germany to develop successful integration schemes. The mainstay of its policy is dialogue, with many of its projects promoting encounters between immigrants and locals.

Promoting public spirit

Back in 2002, the foundation began awarding the annual "Hamburg Tulip for German-Turkish Public Spirit," an allusion to the flower first brought to Europe by Turks in the 17th century.

"The Hamburg Tulip is a symbol for the Turks who came to this city. Despite their very different origins, they've managed to coexist with the locals," explained Oya Abalai from the Körber Foundation. "So the Hamburg Tulip for German-Turkish Public Spirit is awarded to voluntary projects that promote improved integration."

This year, the prize -- worth €10,000 -- went to the Hamburg Street Soccer League, a project set up three years ago. It allows teenagers between 12 and 16 to play soccer under the supervision of two arbitrators -- and two years ago, it even permitted girls to join the 1600 German and Turkish boys belonging to the club. Last season, Vanessa and her all-girl team came a respectable second in their league.

Role models

Samim Öztürk is one of the arbitrators. Eighteen-years old, he's still at high school, but he enjoys the players' full respect. Brawls amongst team members are by no means uncommon and it's up to Samim to mediate. He says the Turkish teenagers have a short fuse -- but he doesn't take it too seriously. "They're just insecure," he shrugged.

After two years, he's become something of an older brother to the six boys he's in charge of at a local youth club. The group includes children from Kurdish, Turkish, Chilean, Roma and German families.