Breaking Barriers through Football Youth Exchange in Lisbon

Breaking Barriers through Football Youth Exchange in Lisbon

EFDN is looking forward to the next Breaking Barriers through Football Youth Exchange in Lisbon. Young people from five different cultures will come together from the 15th to the 21th of September. 

The youth exchange provides the 17 to 25 year olds from Aberdeen FC, PFC Ludogorets 1945, NAC Breda, KAS Eupen, and SL Benfica with the unique opportunity to share experiences with each other while engaging in diverse activities. This contributes to fostering the understanding of cultural and religious diversity. Breaking barriers is important, especially as multiculturalism among young people is a reality in Europe and its neighbouring countries. In cities and communities, young people with different social, religious and cultural backgrounds live together or next to one another. Culturally diverse communities can provoke challenges in intercultural understanding and inclusion of members of society with different cultural, linguistic or religious backgrounds.

The young people will have the chance to work together to understand the benefits of cultural diversity, but also experience similarities. The exchange will provide group discussions in which the youth from different cultures and countries talk about common values of freedom, interests, dreams and questions about life, that they share with each other. Furthermore, football-based activities will be in the centre of the programme. In addition to that, a mutual exchange takes place during sightseeing activities, cooking and a cultural evening.

But that’s not all. Participants also discover non-formal learning activities such as Walking Football, Blind Football, and other activities that allow them to work on invisible barriers in society and develop strategies to overcome them. At the end of the exchange, every participant receives the Youth Pass Certificate. While supporting the young participants, the staff members also learn a lot from the comprehensive programme. During the Youth Exchanges, best-practices and new insights are shared and the staff members can use the evaluation and reflection time between the activities to discuss opportunities and challenges they face at their club. In the past years, Youth Exchanges took place among others in Arnhem, Tel Aviv , Rotterdam, Larnaca and Nijmegen, and more recently in Breda.