THE EUROPEAN FAIR PLAY DIPLOMA 2024 MADE UNDER THE AUSPICES OF EOC presented to Christoph Baumgartner (AUT)

Christoph Baumgartner: Football Star with a Heart for Uganda

Christoph Baumgartner (born August 1, 1999) is an Austrian professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder and forward for Bundesliga club RB Leipzig and the Austrian national

team.

Baumgartner lives for football, but his horizons extend as far as Uganda. In 2022, Baumgartner quietly founded a training centre in Kakule, Uganda, specifically to support women who had dropped out of school due to early pregnancies—a common issue in the region due to limited access to contraceptives and social support.

For a long time, Baumgartner hesitated to make his charitable work in East Africa public.

“I often had the feeling that charities are only done to make you look good. I didn’t want that at all,” says the 24-year-olds, who is personally funding a school in Kakule.

“The idea was not just to provide food and water,” he explains. Due to a lack of access to contraceptives, many women in the region have children at a young age and are often abandoned by their partners. “Our goal is to give women the opportunity to get an education. I think that's what they miss most — the ability to take care of themselves and their children.”

The next step was to hire teachers for the children. Today, more than 80 children between the ages of four and nine receive an education at the Baumi Junior School.

In addition to his efforts in education, Baumgartner launched a fundraising campaign to renovate twelve water fountains. Thanks to the success of that initiative, around 35,000 people now have permanent access to clean drinking water.

10.10.2025