Take a closer look at how the EFDN promotes the values of sport
The European Football for Development Network (EFDN) has launched the ‘Fair Sport 4 All’ programme, in line with its commitment to raise awareness of the true values of sport. To protect the integrity of the industry, we are working with our members and partners to use football for the greater good.
The EFDN believes that football should be an open and honest sport, whereby the integrity and the values of true sportsmanship are represented, respected and encouraged by clubs’, players and all stakeholders.
Through its new ‘Fair Sport 4 All’ programme, the EFDN will raise awareness of the threats of corruption and match-fixing, by educating clubs’ and players on key issues, that affect the integrity of football. In line with the EFDN’s commitment to use the power of football for the greater good, the programme will unite individuals in European football and encourage them to be ambassadors for the game.
The foundation takes responsibility in safeguarding the integrity of football, forming the core of the Fair Sport 4 All programme. We believe that through the programme’s components, such as education, we will work in line with our vision to create a more sustainable impact across European football. Working with stakeholders involved in the game, the programme will inspire and support clubs, leagues and FAs to become aware of their social responsibility towards protecting the integrity of the game.
Our commitment besides ‘Fair Sport 4 All’
Through our Pan-European programmes, international EFDN Conferences and Online Learning Platform, the EFDN is continuously devoting its efforts towards promoting the true values of sport.
EFDN operates several programmes and communicates several resources to help unite, inspire and encourage our members and beyond to develop best practices, share knowledge and create innovative solutions to the social issues being faced within our local communities. Examples of this include:
Community Champions League
The Community Champions League is a social street football competition organised locally in nine cities in eight different European countries, where the participating teams can win more points through Fair-Play, Fair Support and Volunteering in community activities than by winning their street football matches. The project is focused on fair play, respect and tolerance, promoting social cohesion, equal opportunities and participation in sports for young boys and girls between the ages of 7 and 15 years.
To promote social integration through sport, the Community Champions League provides the opportunity for people from different cultures to come together to build relationships and friendships while breaking down barriers through the prevention of violence, racism and intolerance in grassroots sports and their communities.
NOVIS – NO VIOLENCE IN SPORT
NOVIS aims to address challenges associated with violence and intolerance, within sports events. In order to, promote the culture of sport, fair play and teamwork. NOVIS sets out to have a direct impact on young participants who will be non-formally educated to combat violence in sport and promote the real sport culture and the true European sport values.
The overall purpose of the project is to prevent of and fight against incidents of violence, racism and any form of intolerance in sports, particularly in youth sport sectors and at amateur level.
EFDN Youth Exchanges
EFDN Youth Exchanges allow clubs to provide the opportunity for groups of young people from different countries to meet, live together and work on shared projects for short periods.
Youth Exchanges take place outside of the participants’ conventional environment. Whereby, they can take part in activities such as workshops, debates, role-plays and outdoor activities. All activities work towards achieving a shared theme of objectives, of which promote the values of fair play and respect. The Youth Leaders encourage positive social change within their local communities.
The exchanges help participants feel more confident in taking part in all aspects of society. The main aim of these exchanges is to provide young people with a new foreign opportunity, to represent their home countries and share their own culture. While learning about and embracing a new one. In addition to, forging the way to becoming young ambassadors for peace and international understanding.
Exchanging knowledge
At EFDN we provide our members several opportunities to exchange knowledge amongst CSR-practitioners involved in the industry, which allows the perfect platform for organisations of all shapes and sizes across Europe to be able to share ideas and identify and develop new concepts promoting the power and values of football.
The EFDN Conferences
The EFDN Conferences feature presentations on critical current topics, trends and ground-breaking social programmes by high profile experts in the field as well as break-out sessions, panel discussions, practical workshops, monitoring and evaluation initiatives, and roundtable discussions. The programme gives the attendees an insight into how Europe’s leading football clubs and organisations develop and implement football-based community and social responsibility initiatives currently, and in the future.
The discussion topics include community involvement, environmental awareness and practices, educational and health initiatives, cultural understanding and integration, tackling racism, promoting equality, stadium accessibility and sustainability, community-based fan engagement and much more.
Online Learning platform and resources
The Online Learning platform is a secure environment for members to share content from youth intervention session plans through to governance policies. This is a unique platform, the first of its kind in European Football, powered by EFDN. The platform generates individualised content which is electronically communicated and aligned to the distinctive interests, genres and topics of each individual member. Members can also contribute content that they would like to share with the global football community, via the platform.
