EFDN Highlights: June 2022

EFDN Highlights: June 2022

As 2022 comes to an end, EFDN invites you to look back on this year’s top activities, projects and news stories. Take a look at some highlights from June.

Launch of the More Than Football Fund

EFDN launched the “More than Football Fund” in the Netherlands. With this fund, EFDN wanted to further strengthen the social power of Dutch clubs and increase the impact of the projects.

Anyone who is involved in football knows that it is more than a simple game. From tactics to a financial budget, there is a lot involved. A professional football club is also an important place where young and old and people from different backgrounds meet. The social activities of Dutch clubs also promote an active and healthy lifestyle that contributes to both physical and mental health.

The social efforts of the club and the accessibility of the stadium for people with disabilities contribute to the connection between the city and the region. The stadium is often used not only during matches but also for all kinds of social projects in the fields of education, health, employment and social inclusion. Football clubs carry out more and more projects for a growing number of participants, but financing these projects remains difficult.

Thanks to the ‘More than Football Fund’, Dutch EFDN members were able to apply for a grant of EUR 2,500 to EUR 10,000 for innovative projects for which they struggled to get funding. With this fund, together with Unibet Impact, EFDN wanted to further strengthen the innovation of social projects and the cooperation between clubs.

AEK FC and “Welcome Through Football”

The second phase of the European international social project of EFDN “ Welcome Through Football”, in which AEK FC participates, in cooperation with other European football Clubs was successfully completed.

The children who took part in this phase of the program had the opportunity to meet the AKE FC player Karim Ansarifard, to visit OAKA stadium and their headquarters, to meet the players of AEK B, to attend a home Super League match. They also learned from the sports nutritionists of the football team and participated in the sports tournament organized by “Shedia” in Syntagma Square.

After the successful completion of this phase, the third phase had the aim to achieve the best possible adaptation of refugees and immigrants in Greece and began shortly after, always in collaboration with the Athens Comics Library.

Welcome Through Football is an EFDN initiative. Current projects across Europe receive funding from the Eramus+ programme of the European Union and the UEFA Foundation for Children.

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 developed and tested 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.

Cagliari Calcio and the environment

On Monday 6 June 2022, in the aftermath of World Environment Day and National Sports Day, twenty athletes from Cagliari Calcio Under-15 team took part in cleaning the beautiful Calamosca beach and surrounding area on the island of Sardinia.

Cagliari Calcio has a strong focus on Sustainability and a desire to make a real commitment to protect and improve the world we live in. One of their #BeAsOne goals is the reduction of energy, water, and material waste in every area of the club’s operation, with a focus on facilities open to the public.

There are many ways to help one’s community and territory and Cagliari Calcio’s youngsters athletes, together with their staff and Legambiente volunteers, helped clean and collect rubbish on the beach at Cala Mosca. The Calamosca Restaurant and Le Terrazze di Calamosca together with the Calamosca Association set up the ‘Calamosca Foundation’ Promoting Committee, launching a series of actions related to the environment and sustainability to safeguard the Baia del Faro. The first meeting took place this Monday and ended with a convivial moment offered by the Calamosca Foundation Promoting Committee.

”I would like to thank each and every person who has collaborated to realise this wonderful initiative. We are proud to be among the partners together with Legambiente and Be As One, a project that spreads the right sporting values and stirs consciences, creating a more responsible society. We would like there to be many more days like this in the future.” (….) “Thank you for your contribution, remember that if tomorrow you will be athletes, you must first of all be men.”

Silvana Lenzu, former athlete of the national basketball team and Cus Cagliari and President of the Calamosca Foundation