Eredivisie Community Champions kick-offs new season

Eredivisie Community Champions kick-offs new season

This Wednesday the kick-off meeting of the new ‘Community Champions’ season took place in Stadion Galgenwaard, in Utrecht. The project leaders of the participating 15 Dutch clubs from the Eredivisie and the Keuken Kampioen Divisie met each other at this occasion. Their organisations will guide more than 2,500 young people between the ages of 12 and 30 in their personal development. These young people will participate in the MDT programme ‘Community Champions’ and hopefully become the new role models in their neighbourhoods.

The attendants of the kick-off meeting were welcomed by a brief introduction and the day’s programme. There was a short introduction round in which they explained who they are, what club they belong to, and their function within the club and what they hoped to learn. After the introduction round, there was a short quiz testing the clubs’ knowledge about MDT (community service time). The winner was presented with the first-ever MDT Community Champions captain’s armband.

Regarding the sixteen weeks programme, the youngsters at one of the 15 participating clubs will look for the best version of themselves. They will not only discover where their own talents lie through sports and workshops, but also contribute to their neighbourhood through neighbourhood contributions and get acquainted with various companies for work or internships.

The community service time aims to discover talents, do something for someone in the community and connect with new people, preferably from different backgrounds. The target group is young people aged between 12 and 30, living in the Netherlands and/or in possession of a (temporary) residence permit. Participation must be voluntary and a minimum of 80 contact hours must be made in a maximum of six months. All three objectives of the community service time must be reflected in the programme.

For this new edition of the Eredivisie Community Champions we would like to welcome the new participants FC Utrecht, FC Groningen, NAC Breda, SC Cambuur, Heracles Almelo, Willem II, PEC Zwolle, and FC Volendam who will join last season’s participants that remain in this new edition, Vitesse Arnhem, FC Emmen, FC Twente, Sparta Rotterdam, Feyenoord, Excelsior Rotterdam, De Graafschap.