AS Monaco goalkeeper Philipp Köhn recently stepped away from the football field to visit Casa Dos Curumins, a Brazilian charity committed to helping vulnerable children in São Paulo. Deeply moved by the experience, Köhn has since become a passionate advocate for the cause and is eager to bring its message to the Monaco community.
Earlier this year, AS Monaco’s Swiss-German goalie Philipp Köhn headed off to the Brazilian city of São Paulo to meet with the team at Casa Dos Curumins, a children’s charity that seeks to “transform lives through love and opportunities”.
The favelas of São Paulo would have seemed a world away from Köhn’s usual surroundings in the Principality, where he has lived since joining the team in 2023. The experiences he encountered during his visit had a considerable impact on the 26-year-old player.
“My motivation for getting involved in the Casa dos Curumins project is to make a positive impact on society in general,” Philipp Köhn tells Monaco Life. “Casa dos Curumins has a strong connection to Switzerland as the project was founded by Swiss/Brazilian couple Adriana and Alberto Eisenhardt in Sao Paulo, and it is supported by the Swiss embassy in Brazil. Ever since my second visit to Brazil this summer, I have felt a social responsibility to support the children.”
The main driver at Casa Dos Curumins is to offer young people, from as little as just four months of age, protection against violence and abandonment, and provide them with a solid educational foundation to help them break out of the “cycle of marginalisation and poverty” in which they live.
Köhn and his girlfriend Meike Volk, who accompanied him on the trip in June, were able to meet with some of the children in Casa Dos Curumins’ care and see firsthand the challenges that they face in their day-to-day lives.
The player shared out AS Monaco kits with those living at the home and realised how such a small gesture can mean so much to children from underprivileged circumstances.
Having spoken to, played with and listened to the children, the experience spurred the goalkeeper to become an overseas ambassador for the charity and he is now hoping to raise the profile of the Casa Dos Curumins charitable association by attending the black-tie celebrations laid on by the Swiss Club of Monaco to mark its own 75th anniversary on 15th October.
Köhn is to be the guest of honour at the sold-out event, alongside Prince Albert II of Monaco, and he will no doubt use this moment in the limelight to promote the work being done in São Paulo by the Casa Dos Curumins charity.
The event, which will be held at the Hôtel de Paris, will also be spotlighting the work of the Princess Charlene of Monaco Foundation, with both Casa Dos Curumins and the Princess’ personal project set to share the profits raised at the soirée.
To find out more about Casa Dos Curumins, click here.
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Photos credit: Fondation Prince Albert II de Monaco