Two successful EU funding applications
EFDN is proud to announce that two of the latest EU funding applications have been successful. ‘Welcome through Football 2021’ and ‘Walking Football League’ will be co-funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union. Read more about the new projects that EFDN will launch together with members in 2021.
Welcome Through Football 2021
January 2021 – December 2023 (36 month project)
Partners
- AEK Athens (Athens, Greece)
- Everton in the Community (Liverpool, UK)
- Werder Bremen (Bremen, Germany)
- Big Hearts Community Trust (Edinburgh, UK)
- Fundação Benfica (Lisbon, Portugal)
- FC Emmen (Emmen, the Netherlands)
- Sheffield United Community Foundation (Sheffield, UK)
- KAA Gent (Ghent, Belgium)
- Newcastle United Foundation (Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK)
Project aims and objectives
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. The project will also train the staff members of participating organisations in this new methodology and develop a Welcome Through Football Practitioners Guide with train the trainer courses that are accessible for free and widely used by interested organisations and sport clubs in Europe.
The Welcome Through Football 2021 project aims to build upon the previous Welcome Through Football 2019 project. The Welcome Through Football 2021 will further develop the 3-Step Welcome Through Football Methodology and test the complete methodology multiple times during the five delivery phases of this project, allowing for more significant data gathering and improve the sustainability of the project outcomes.
Project Partners will test all three Steps of the European Welcome Through Football Methodology and activities. The Steps are as followed;
- Step 1: Socialisation to sports: providing different football offerings for young refugees of both genders related to their specific requirements such as language skills or the possibility of trauma. In these first 12 weeks, the participants are offered football sessions to guide them to sport activities at a foundation or grassroots clubs’ level. The sessions can also include some assistance with learning the local language, but the main aim is to get the participants a structured sport offer and to build a new social network in their new community.
- Step 2: The socialisation in sports: working on team structure, giving more responsibility to the participants, and offering additional opportunities (like training and coaching skills) with the sports training sessions. Step 2 of the Welcome Through Football Methodology still includes weekly football sessions, but the participants are offered an additional training curriculum which will provide them with skills to take more responsibility and for instance assist with the training sessions of their peers who just started with Step 1 of the Welcome Through Football Methodology. The participants learn what it is to volunteer on grassroots level and together with the participants, the project staff of the delivery clubs with support of EFDN, will develop individual learning paths to guide them to Step 3.
- Step 3: The socialisation Through sports: focusing on the skills the participants learn from taking part in the available offers so they qualify for further education, volunteering, or work placement in and outside of sports. Step 3 of the Welcome Through Football Methodology also offers weekly football sessions but the main focus is to guide and assist the participants to education or internship opportunities. Depending on their age and Skills, the participants are introduced to sponsors of the professional football club during so called Scoring for Jobs Match days. A unique occasion for both sides to sit at the same table, erase any potential prejudice and bilaterally discuss employment opportunities.
Welcome Through Football 2021 will directly impact social inclusion in sport, and provide the opportunities for refugees, asylum seekers and migrants across Europe to be socially and physically active within their new community. EFDN and Partners will build upon the many successes and best practices demonstrated in the previous Welcome Through Football 2019 project to create a long-lasting, sustainable methodology that can improve communities in Europe for many years to come.
Walking Football League
January 2021 – June 2023 (30 month project)
Partners
- Vålerenga Fotball (Olso, Norway)
- Ferencvárosi Torna Club (Budapest, Hungary)
- Bayer 04 Leverkusen (Leverkusen, Germany)
- Rangers Charity Foundation (Glasgow, UK)
- Fundação Benfica (Lisbon, Portugal)
- Real Betis Balompié Foundation (Seville, Spain)
- FC Schalke 04 (Gelsenkirchen, Germany)
- Morton in the Community (Greenock, UK)
- Newcastle United Foundation (Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK)
Project aims and objectives
The Walking Football League aims to deliver health-enhancing physical activity to people over the age of 50 years old, as well as provide opportunities to increase social inclusion levels allowing them to lead a physically and socially active lifestyle in their European community. The Walking Football League will further develop Walking Football as a sustainable sport in Europe and raise the profile of the game.
In this new project, EFDN and Partners will develop a Walking Football League methodology that provides individual clubs the opportunity to create their own Walking Football Leagues with multiple teams on a local and regional level, which will contribute to the establishment of national Leagues and the European Walking Football League. These leagues will act as multipliers on local, national, and international level and contribute to the professionalisation of this new sport. Throughout the project, EFDN will support grassroots and professional clubs with a new practitioner’s guide to develop not only one Walking Football team, but also to provide them with the tools to create partnerships so they can cooperate with local, regional and national Football Associations and establish a framework of walking football leagues that actively promote the game of walking football on all levels. New clubs and organisations anywhere in Europe and outside of our project partnership are actively supported to set up their own Walking Football teams with our freely available resources so they can join the Walking Football Leagues on regional, national and European level.
This Walking Football League project will not only bring together nine community engaged football clubs to deliver a programme that will increase physical activity levels and improve social cohesion and inclusion for people over the age of 50 years old, it will also be the foundation to establish the new sport of Walking Football as a truly unique sport that is here to stay! The European Walking Football League will provide the opportunity for participants to take part in two European Walking Football League events per year, where they get to travel and compete against the other clubs. These international events will act as inspiration and multipliers which will plant the seed to grow the game of walking football all over Europe. The project will provide participants with the opportunity to travel, socialise with people of a similar age, and allow them to participate in physical activity in a relaxed and social environment. The project aims to assist in the development of long-lasting friendships and help to increase the confidence of those who participate.
A successful partnership
EFDN would like to extend our thanks and express our gratitude to the European Commission for the approval of the Welcome Through Football 2021 and the Walking Football League projects.
Would you like to become a member or partner and get involved in future projects? Read more here and contact us via email at info@efdn.org. Register for our Virtual 14th EFDN Conference to receive more information and connect with our members.
