Empowering children. Enabling participation. Discovering digital worlds together.
Colors Cup Bambini connects the digital world children live in with genuine
participation, inclusion, media literacy, prevention and resilience. We want to accompany children,
strengthen them and give them knowledge and ways to act. In doing so we are guided by the
children's rights of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
“With every heart I want to pass on a small sign of community, diversity and respectful
togetherness.”
This heart was lovingly crocheted by hand by Anna Maria Russi.
Please note: not a toy. Not suitable for children under 3 years due to small parts that could be
swallowed.
For the youngest
Colors Cup Bambini
Empowering children. Enabling participation. Discovering digital worlds together.
Colors Cup Bambini connects the digital world children live in with genuine participation, inclusion, media literacy, prevention and resilience.
Children are curious. They want to discover, try things out, understand, belong and help shape things. For many children today, digital media and gaming are a completely natural part of everyday life.
That is why our approach is not to condemn this world or to keep children away from it. We want to accompany children, strengthen them and give them knowledge and ways to act, so that they learn to move through digital and social spaces ever more independently and safely.
In doing so we are also guided by the children's rights of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Because children have rights.
And we adults carry the responsibility for making sure children can get to know these rights, experience them and exercise them.
The digital space is part of children's everyday world
The digital space is not automatically a protected space.
There, children can encounter people, content and situations whose risks or intentions they cannot yet recognise or assess, given their age and experience.
That is why the question of what a child plays is not the only one that matters to us.
At least as important is the question of who they play, talk and communicate with.
Who does my child meet in the digital space?
What conversations do they have there?
What experiences are they having?
What feels good and what perhaps does not?
For us, looking closely does not mean constant control, but attentive support.
Accompanying instead of judging
Colors Cup Bambini explicitly does not want to point the finger at parents or other adults, nor to preach.
Digital media are part of everyday family life and repeatedly confront adults with new questions and challenges.
So the question we want to ask is not:
What are parents doing wrong?
Instead, we want to invite people to be curious about the digital world children live in.
What is my child playing?
What fascinates them about it?
Who do they play with?
Who do they communicate with?
What do they experience there?
Children may explain their digital world to us. This can start conversations and gives adults the chance to understand this world better.
Support, interest, trust and relationship matter more to us than control alone.
Children should know that they can confide in adults when something online frightens them, feels uncomfortable or simply does not feel right.
Knowledge creates ways to act
We do not just want to warn children about possible dangers.
We want to strengthen them.
Because with knowledge, children can recognise and assess situations better.
They can learn to perceive and respect their own boundaries and those of others. They can learn to say no, to leave a situation, to block or report someone and to get support.
For us this also includes a very concrete question:
Where do I get help if something happens to me in the digital space?
There are already reputable, free and in some cases anonymous support services for children and young people. Colors Cup Bambini wants to make such services visible and understandable and to show children how and where they can get support.
Because it is not enough to tell a child to get help.
They also need to know where to find that help and how to reach it.
One point is especially important to us here:
Responsibility for protection must never rest with the child alone.
Knowledge gives children ways to act. Adults remain responsible for protection, orientation and support.
Recognising boundaries and building resilience
For us, making children strong does not mean making them afraid of possible dangers.
It means trusting them with something and giving them skills.
A child who gets to know their own boundaries is more likely to notice when someone tries to cross them.
A child who knows that they are allowed to say no can exercise that right more consciously.
A child who learns to trust their feelings is more likely to notice when a situation does not feel right.
And a child who knows where to get help does not have to handle a difficult situation alone.
Children may try things out, ask questions and also make mistakes.
We want to create spaces where they experience that mistakes are part of learning and that solutions can be found together.
A child who experiences that they can make decisions, that their opinion is heard and that they can handle challenges develops a sense of self-efficacy.
These experiences can help to build resilience.
Participation in practice
At Colors Cup Bambini, participation is not a single item on the programme.
It is our attitude.
Children should not simply consume an offer planned by adults or be kept busy.
They may discover, try things out, ask questions, make decisions, contribute their own ideas and help shape things.
What interests you?
What would you like to try out?
What rules do we need so that everyone feels comfortable?
What do you feel is fair or unfair?
How do we want to play and treat each other?
This is how children experience it in practice:
My opinion counts.
My boundaries count.
I can make a difference.
At the same time they learn to perceive and respect other people's opinions, needs and boundaries.
Inclusion means more than being there
Colors Cup Bambini is meant to be a space where different children belong as a matter of course.
Different abilities, disabilities, experiences, languages as well as social or financial circumstances should as far as possible create no barriers to taking part.
For us, inclusion is not only about access.
A child is not automatically involved just because they are allowed to be present.
They should have the chance to really join in, to be understood, to contribute their own abilities, to make decisions and to experience themselves as part of a community.
That is why we try to design our activities so that different ways in are possible and children can contribute their individual strengths.
Every child can do something.
And every child should have the chance to show it.
Digital meets analogue
Colors Cup Bambini is not simply gaming for children.
Gaming can be a wonderful door opener.
We deliberately combine digital activities with analogue experiences.
Depending on the event, gaming, movement, creativity, dexterity, team tasks, children's rights, media literacy and shared challenges can be combined.
Children should try things out, talk to each other, move, find solutions together, learn from one another and have fun together.
For us, digital and analogue worlds are not a contradiction.
We bring them together.
Children's rights at Colors Cup Bambini
Our attitude is guided by the children's rights of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Articles 12, 17, 19 and 31 are particularly closely connected to Colors Cup Bambini.
12
Article 12Being heard
Children have the right to be heard and to be involved in decisions that affect them.
For us adults this means listening to children, taking their opinion seriously, explaining decisions in an age-appropriate way and creating real opportunities to participate.
Participation does not mean that children have to make every decision on their own.
Adults carry responsibility.
But children should experience that their voice counts.
17
Article 17Access to media
Children have the right to access information and media. At the same time they should be protected from content that can harm their well-being.
For us adults this means showing interest in what children experience digitally.
Screen time is not the only question that matters.
We should also know what children play, which platforms they use, who they communicate with and what content they come across.
Our task is to accompany them so that they can increasingly assess information and situations themselves.
19
Article 19Protection from violence
Children have the right to protection from violence, abuse and violations of their boundaries.
This protection does not stop at the door to the child's room.
It applies in the digital space too.
For us adults this means taking children's feelings and boundaries seriously, staying attentive and acting when a child needs protection or help.
Children should know that they are allowed to say no, that they are allowed to get help and that they do not have to solve difficult situations on their own.
31
Article 31Play and leisure
Children have the right to play, leisure, rest and participation in cultural life.
For many children today, digital games are a natural part of their world.
For us adults this also means taking that fascination seriously.
Play is not just an activity to pass the time.
In play, children learn, try out roles, develop ideas, experience community, win, lose, solve problems and discover their abilities.
We want to give children space for digital and analogue play, movement, creativity, encounter and rest, and to support them in developing a good balance between different leisure activities.
Living children's rights together
Children's rights are not directed against parents or other adults.
They give us a shared framework for how we can protect, accompany, strengthen and involve children.
Protection and self-determination are not opposites.
They belong together.
Children need adults who take responsibility and provide orientation.
At the same time they need adults who trust them with something, who listen to them and who allow them to have their own experiences.
For children this means:
My opinion counts.
My boundaries count.
I may help shape things.
I may play and discover.
I may ask questions.
I may make mistakes and learn from them.
I may say no.
I may get help.
And I may trust that adults will accompany and protect me.
Colors Cup Bambini at events
Colors Cup Bambini is not exclusively part of our own Colors Cup events.
We can also be involved in family festivals, corporate events, neighbourhood festivals, club festivals, holiday programmes, events for children and young people, action days as well as social and cultural events.
We do not simply bring along a fixed programme.
Together with the respective organiser we develop an offer that fits the event, the target group and the available possibilities.
That can be a dedicated Colors Cup Bambini area.
Digital or analogue hands-on activities can be created.
Or we combine different elements and develop an individual offer for children and families from them.
Consulting and joint conception
Colors Cup Bambini can begin before an event even takes place.
Companies, municipalities, associations, social institutions and other organisers can also involve us in an advisory and conceptual role when planning a family festival, an event or a children's area.
Together we can look at how children can really be involved, which activities suit the respective age group and how digital and analogue elements can be meaningfully combined.
Together we can consider how inclusion and different needs are taken into account from the outset and how media literacy, prevention, children's rights, participation and resilience can playfully flow into an event.
One question is especially important to us here:
How do we create a space in which children are not simply kept busy, but really feel welcome, taken seriously and involved?
Interested in working together?
Are you planning a family festival, a corporate event, an action day, a holiday programme or another event for children and families?
Would you like to bring Colors Cup Bambini on site?
Or would you like to take pedagogical, inclusive and participatory aspects into account right from the planning stage and develop an individual concept together with us?
Then feel free to write to us.
Colors Cup Bambini can be involved on site, in an advisory role, conceptually or in a combination of these.
We look forward to developing ideas together with you and creating spaces where children can discover, try things out, learn, help shape things and belong.
Because children want to explore the world.
Our task as adults is not to map out every path for them.
Our task is to accompany them and give them knowledge, safety and trust, so that they learn to move through digital and social spaces ever more independently and safely.
Empowering children. Enabling participation. Discovering digital worlds together.
Wiesbaden
COLORS CUP
At the Colors Cup, tactical
gameplay, live matches, and show games meet music, art, and
international cuisine. The
Colors Cup stands for diversity, fair play, and
respectful community - and sends a clear message
against hate, discrimination, and exclusion in
esports.
Official Merch
Wear the Colors Cup
The official ColorCrew shop has shirts, hoodies, and more Colors Cup pieces for your event look.
The idea for the Colors Cup was born at a kitchen table in early 2025. In an intense conversation,
Anna Maria Russi and her adult sons Gianluca and Leandro reflected on their many years of
experience in the international esports scene. They talked about major tournaments and strong
communities, but also about exclusion, discrimination, and the lack of safe spaces in the digital
world.
This honest exchange shaped a shared attitude and, from there, a new concept.
From the
beginning, the Colors Cup has been designed as an inclusive space. Inclusion is
not an add-on, but the foundation. The strength of the project lies in its personal and professional
multi-perspective approach. Leandro contributes professional esports experience and direct access to
the
community. Gianluca adds analytical expertise, strategic thinking, and a structural perspective.
Anna Maria Russi combines these impulses with educational expertise and
experience in participatory project development.
The result is a unique concept in
which scene experience, analytical clarity, and educational responsibility
work together.
At the Colors Cup, inclusion means concrete access instead of symbolic
gestures. Barriers are deliberately removed. People, regardless of origin, gender, sexual
orientation, disability, or social background, are actively included. Through lived
participation, participants become co-creators, and democratic values such as co-determination,
fairness, and dialogue become tangible.
Access, freedom, and peace shape the Colors Cup.
Gaming becomes a space for encounters at eye level and for togetherness that lives diversity as a
strength.
Anna Maria Russi
Founder
I am 52 years old, a state-certified
educator, self-employed in coaching and
workshops, and the founder of the Colors Cup together with my sons Leandro
and Gianluca de Nittis. As a
mother and as the daughter of migrant workers from
southern Italy, different
lifeworlds, cultural perspectives, and the
experience of belonging and exclusion
shape me in equal measure.
For many years, I worked in open child and
youth work as well as outpatient youth welfare.
My focus areas are
intercultural competence, inclusive education, and
participatory project development. I work
resource-oriented and strengthen self-efficacy,
responsibility, and social skills.
Today, I support people and projects in
coaching processes and workshops. I teach
social and intercultural skills,
support lived participation, and work
systemically. A particular focus is
awareness: consciously shaping
discrimination-sensitive and safe spaces
where diversity is lived respectfully.
I am actively involved in the
city community and serve on the Foreigners' Advisory Council.
Participation, dialogue, and respectful
coexistence are, for me, lived
responsibility.
Through my long-standing closeness to the gaming and
esports scene, and as the mother of a
professional esports player, I have experienced digital
communities up close. I am
convinced that digital spaces are social
spaces and therefore educational spaces. Young people
do not need bans there, but
support, orientation, and shared
mindfulness.
Inclusion, participation, and democratic
values form the foundation of my work. My
goal is to create access, remove barriers,
and shape spaces where
freedom, respect, and peace are a given,
online and offline.
Leandro de Nittis
Founder
I am Leandro de Nittis, 21 years old and an esports player for more than four years,
a passionate streamer and content creator, and founder of the Colors Cup. Together with
my mother Anna Maria Russi, I created an educational esports event that
stands for inclusion, respect, and real community. In Wiesbaden, we are bringing a
VALORANT tournament to the stage in Wiesbaden, along with an experience featuring music, food,
and space for
encounters. The Colors Cup connects competition with togetherness and shows how strongly esports
can bring people together.
"As a design and development agency, we see
great potential in this project. Since we are
gamers ourselves, we strongly identify
with the tournament and its idea. Our goal is
to create a professional yet emotional
tournament presence that reflects the values of the
Colors Cup."
Ahmet Topal
Federlight GmbH
"As a broadcaster of international sporting events, we know that esports holds great
potential
and requires highly innovative broadcast technologies. Our trainees will realize this new
event format independently using a state-of-the-art outside broadcast vehicle and can
develop in several ways in the process. The Colors Cup is modern esports with
an explicit fair play factor - a role-model combination that TVN is happy to
support."
Paul Jansen
TVN GROUP
"We at Computer Club Südhessen e.V.
support the Colors Cup Wiesbaden because
we are convinced by the overall concept. Our
own event, BieberLAN, which we have been
running for 25 years, also stands for diversity,
respect, community, and tolerance."
Dennis
BieberLAN
"As a platform that works with streaming,
content, and digital communities every day,
we see the Colors Cup as a forward-looking
project. We want to help develop esports as
a respectful, open, and creative space."
Ahmet Topal
Streame.gg
FAQ
When does the Colors Cup take place?
The Colors Cup takes place on December 11 and 12, 2026 at Kulturpalast Wiesbaden.
How can I buy tickets?
coming soon
Is there an age restriction?
Participation and attendance at the event are
permitted from age 16. The aftershow party is for ages 18 and up.
Which teams will compete?
The team list will be published after
qualification has concluded.
Will there be food & drinks on site?
There will be a varied selection of food and
drinks. More information will follow.
Our Sponsors
COLORS CUP BRANDING
The Beginning
Because the Colors Cup was a new foundation, there was
no logo and no visual
identity at the beginning. That was exactly the opportunity to develop,
from the ground up,
a symbol that reflects the values of the project.
The requirements were clear: the logo needed to
embody diversity, uniqueness, and inclusion,
feel modern in a gaming environment, and work both digitally
and on site across stages, streams, and
print materials. It had to be
recognizable, flexible to use, and closely connected to the
idea behind the Colors Cup.
As with many
major brands, the beginning was not about
form, but meaning. Only by
understanding the vision and the message could
a visual identity emerge step by step,
carrying the character of the project outward.
The Idea
We wanted to create something real, something
unique that is special
in its own way. This also reflects the basic concept of the
Colors Cup. Every person is unique and
valuable exactly as they are.
While searching for suitable inspiration,
we came across crystals. They are formed in
nature in a wide variety of shapes, colors, and
sizes. No crystal is the same as another, and
yet each one is special and valuable in its own right.
This quality symbolically fits the idea of
inclusion and the diversity of people who come together at the
Colors Cup.
At the same time,
the many colors of crystals fit the name
Colors Cup, while their individuality reflects the
concept behind it. This was the point
where the foundation emerged for us to turn
this idea into a logo.
Shapes and Variants
In the next phase, we experimented with different
crystal shapes and icons. The goal was
to develop a clear basic form that remains
consistent and recognizable at its core,
while adapting flexibly to different applications.
This resulted in three variants. A flat
2D version in which the individual surfaces are deliberately
set slightly apart. This small
gap makes the form feel lighter and
also works well in digital applications.
In addition, there is a 2D outline version that is
reduced and modern and works especially well on dark
or calm backgrounds.
The system is completed by a
3D version. Here, the actual depth of the
crystal form becomes fully visible. It feels
tangible and high-quality, making it
perfect as the basis for a physical trophy.
Branding
The Colors Cup stands for energy, diversity, and
expression, and that is exactly what the branding
needed to reflect.
Once the basic form of the logo was defined, the next step was
to build a visual world around it that fit the
character of the Colors Cup. It quickly became clear
that a classic, neutral style would not do the project
justice.
Our choice
fell on a pop-art-inspired look. Bold
colors, clear contrasts, and a vivid
visual language directly pick up the name Colors Cup
and make diversity visible. At the same time,
this style fits very well into the gaming world.
Especially in the context of Valorant, strong
colors, clear forms, and striking contrasts
feel familiar and fitting.
This created a
harmony between pop art and gaming aesthetics. On
one side, the artistic, colorful
form of expression; on the other, the modern,
dynamic aesthetic of esports. This exact
combination captures the core of the Colors Cup and
connects the topic of inclusion with the visual
language of the gaming community.
We sincerely thank you for the trust placed in us
and are very happy that we were able to contribute to the
development of the Colors Cup project.
