A Football Supporters Europe (FSE) solidarity initiative is bringing together fans and clubs across Europe in a united action to help improve the living situation of refugees across the globe.

The Second Fan Shirt (#secondfanshirt) campaign, launched on 21 October, consists of the donation and consequent sell of club merchandising, such as rare football kits or current jerseys, shirts and scarves, to raise money to fund refugee aid programmes.

Since its launch over 50 supporter initiatives from eight European countries, including Germany, England, Spain, Austria, Ukraine, Turkey, Croatia and Denmark, have taken action in order to help refugees centres in Europe.

German professional football engages in the campaign
In Germany, the Fare member Bündnis aktiver Fußballfans e.V. (BAFF e.V) is leading the campaign, which also counts with an official page on Facebook. The money collected by the fans association will be distributed among refugee initiatives including 03 Welcome United, Champions Without Borders, Hamburg FC Lampedusa and Babelsberg team.

"With the increase of a nationwide negative attitude towards refugees in recent times, it is important to promote positive actions that counter this attitude" said BAFF spokesman Patrick Gorschlüter.

A number of German clubs have already engaged in the campaign. The Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund donated signed jerseys and called on its supporters to also join the campaign. On the last match of the year, played on 17 December against VFL Wolfsburg, the Dortmund club organised a stand to collect the fans' old football goodies.

As part of the initiative Mainz 05 recently invited 250 refugees to attend one of the club's matches and 1. FC Köln donated a jersey signed by all its players.

The website of the German premier league also highlighted the initiative, but the solidarity movement in the country has also been extended to other sports such as Basketball.

Throughout December a series of auctions will be made to sell the donated items, making the initiative a plus for those looking for Christmas gifts. To help spread the reach of the campaign, supporters are also encouraged to reproduce the campaign's logos in self-made t-shirts.

The money generated via the Ebay auctions will be entirely donated to refugee centres across Europe.

To find out more about the groups involved visit here.