Big Hearts rewarded for ‘Welcome Through Football’ project

Big Hearts rewarded for ‘Welcome Through Football’ project

Big Hearts’s project for young refugees was recognised by a regional award from the Scottish Football Association.

Big Hearts, the official charity of Heart of Midlothian FC, is delighted to have received an award as part of the 2022 Scottish FA Regional Grassroots Awards.

‘Welcome Through Football’ project was recognised in the category “Best Community Football for All Project” for the Scotland South-East Region: ‘a community based project which has succeeded in encouraging Football for All which may include creating opportunities for people from underrepresented backgrounds, disadvantaged areas and/or has demonstrated strong growth in participation’.

As the only organisation hosting the project in Scotland, Big Hearts are proud of this fantastic achievement which coincides with the first full season of Welcome Through Football at Tynecastle Park. The initiative was launched by the European Football for Development Network and uses the beautiful game as a tool to improve the social inclusion and wellbeing of refugee and asylum seekers in 6 countries.

The 2022 Scottish FA Regional Grassroots Awards, supported by McDonald’s and the Sunday Mail, aim to recognise and reward people across the country that make a difference to grassroots football in their local community. In line with the Scottish ambitions to further equal opportunities, Big Hearts have so far helped over 50 New Scots build friendships, accessing further education or employment to re-build their lives in Edinburgh.

‘WELCOME THROUGH FOOTBALL’ PROJECT

Welcome Through Football is a project initiated by EFDN where current projects across Europe receive funding from the Eramus+ program of the European Union and the UEFA Foundation for Children. The project assists football coaches and youth workers in the development and sharing of effective methods in reaching out to the marginalised target group, in preventing racism and intolerance.

The Welcome Through Football 2021 project aims to assist in the integration and inclusion of recently arrived young refugees, asylum seekers and young people with a migrant background. EFDN and partners will develop and test a European methodology that uses football as a tool to reach refugees and migrants from different ages (7-25 years old) to get them physically and social active in European communities.