‘FIFA is a mafia business’: F365 interviews Benjamin Adrion, founder of Viva con Agua | OneFootball

Benjamin Adrion still talks about football the way players do long after they stop playing: with the language of team-mates, seasons, wins and losses. But the arena he now operates in looks nothing like the pitches of Stuttgart or Hamburg.

Instead, it stretches from concert venues and community hubs in Germany to villages in East Africa and townships in South Africa, all connected by a simple mission: access to clean drinking water.

Adrion’s transition from professional footballer to social entrepreneur did not happen with a dramatic retirement speech or a carefully choreographed career pivot. It began, quietly, on a pre-season training camp in Cuba with FC St. Pauli in 2005. “To be precise, the actual idea emerged later,” Adrion says. “It didn’t fully form in Cuba, but that trip was definitely the inspiration – the whole training camp experience and the positive aftermath of it.”

What struck him most was not just the football; it was the contrast between material scarcity and emotional richness. “We had very interesting insights into Cuban culture – the football culture and the wider society,” he explains. “Life isn’t easy there, but at the same time you see happy people, dancing, celebrating. That had a big impact on me.”

St. Pauli’s visit was politically symbolic – the first professional German club to play in Cuba – and socially eye-opening. Adrion and his team-mates toured kindergartens and community projects where basic infrastructure was missing. Still, he insists the decision to act came later, back in Germany, when his own career stood at a crossroads.

A few weeks after returning from Cuba, Adrion decided he wanted to stop playing and travel the world, working on social projects. On the same day, his coach called to offer him a new contract. “That created a real dilemma,” he recalls. “I started asking myself how I could combine football with social engagement and my curiosity about the world.”

The answer came from the club he played for. St. Pauli, long known for their counter-cultural identity, activist fanbase and deep roots in Hamburg’s music and arts scene, offered a ready-made ecosystem. “St. Pauli has a very powerful community – fans, musicians, artists, public figures,” Adrion says. “That’s when I connected the dots. I thought: why don’t we bring people together in a joyful way and create something that helps people in Cuba?”

That idea became Viva con Agua de Sankt Pauli, founded in 2006 with the initial goal of supporting water projects in Cuba. The concept was disarmingly simple: use football culture, music festivals and social events to raise money for clean drinking water – not through solemn appeals, but through participation, creativity and fun. Volunteers collected reusable cups at concerts, organised fundraising events and built a movement that blurred the line between activism and celebration.

Adrion admits he never imagined how far it would go. “We never expected to do this for 20 years,” he says. “We never expected to raise millions of euros or support so many water projects.”

Today, Viva con Agua funds water, sanitation and hygiene programmes across Africa, Asia and Latin America and operates its own mineral water brand, with profits reinvested into humanitarian work.

What has remained constant, he insists, is the organisation’s DNA. “It’s still about bringing people together,” Adrion says. “It’s still about universal languages like music, sports and art. It’s still about having a good time while creating something meaningful and helping people gain access to water. The shape changes, but the heart remains the same.”

That evolution has taken physical form through Villa Viva, a network of community hubs that combine hotels, event spaces, restaurants and cultural programming with Viva con Agua’s social mission. Hamburg and Cape Town are already operating; Berlin is scheduled to open in 2027.

“Creating permanent infrastructure where people can meet, create, relax and connect is a big step,” Adrion says. “In times where society is becoming more polarised, it’s important to create physical spaces where people can be together in a positive way.”

For Adrion, the most powerful moments are often far removed from boardrooms and branding discussions. He remembers walking through Rwanda and Uganda in 2017 as part of Viva con Agua’s ‘Water Walk’ campaign, a three-week journey with international participants. “I had been in the same villages the year before and saw people collecting dirty river water,” he says. “One year later, those villages had wells. You realise that real change happens – not because of ego, but because people come together with energy and joy.”

Running a growing NGO, however, is not immune to pressure. The pandemic, inflation and shifting donor landscapes have created financial strain. Earlier this year, Adrion stepped into the role of CEO for the first time, overseeing management restructuring and trying to stabilise operations in Hamburg. “After two difficult financial years, it’s time to win a season again,” he says, slipping back into football metaphors.

That language is no accident. Adrion credits football with shaping how he leads. “Football teaches very basic but powerful values,” he says. “You can’t win alone. You need team-mates. You support each other. You learn discipline, competition, resilience.”

He is also clear-eyed about the modern game’s contradictions. “Business has taken over many parts of football,” he says. “When you look at FIFA, this is a mafia business.

“But football itself will always be stronger than money. No dollar can destroy the game completely.”

Looking ahead to 2026 and beyond, Adrion describes Viva con Agua not as a company chasing aggressive growth targets, but as something organic. “We see Viva con Agua as an organism, not a machine,” he says. “An organism wants to survive and stay alive.”

Still, the competitor inside him remains. Germany is still the financial backbone of the organisation, but Adrion is eager to see whether the model can scale internationally. “With Villa Viva, we now have the chance to build international communities and infrastructure,” he says. “I’d love to see Viva con Agua spaces in different parts of the world and watch how the movement grows organically.”

Nearly two decades after leaving professional football behind, Adrion has not abandoned the logic of the changing room. He has simply applied it elsewhere. The stadium has become global. The team now includes artists, volunteers and activists.

And the scoreboard is measured not in goals, but in wells built, communities connected and people gaining access to something most fans leaving a football ground never think twice about: clean water.