New Membership as Djurgarden IF Joins the Network
The European Football for Development Network is pleased to announce that Djugarden IF is joining the network.
Djurgårdens IF Fotbollsförening, commonly known simply as Djurgården IF, is the association football department of Djurgårdens IF and is based at Tele2 Arena in the Johanneshov district of Stockholm. Formed in 1891, the club has 11 national championship titles and 4 national cup titles. Djurgården has won their Swedish championships during three eras. The first one occurred during the 1910s when the club won four championships, the second during the 1950s and 1960s with the same amount of championships. The latest era occurred in the first half of the 2000s: they finished second in 2001, won Allsvenskan and the cup – Svenska Cupen – in 2002, Allsvenskan in 2003, and Svenska Cupen in 2004, before winning Allsvenskan for a third time in 2005. They currently play in the highest Swedish tier, Allsvenskan. The club is affiliated to the Stockholms Fotbollförbund.
What about Djurgarden IF’s CSR strategy?
Djurgården Football Club is committed to develop new sustainable strategies and forms for organisation and cooperation in its activities and its immediate surroundings. The demands all parties in society make on a major football club are extensive today and in many ways sustainability is the way forward addressing these challenges. Sustainability can be said to be about working in a manner, which is credible, and thus strengthening our own goodwill and thereby also long-term endurance. Different clubs’ networks (geography, history, and relationship with the municipality, sponsors, media and supporters) are factors that affect conditions for operations today and in the future. If we master and understand Stockholm’s unique circumstances, we are better placed to control our own operations in a manner that is in line with the overall development of society. In other words, the organisation must master its own surroundings and its expectations in order to put in place an organisational strategy that is sustainable over time. This applies in particular to the requirements that are sometimes listed under the concept corporate social responsibility according to perceptions that apply so far.
Djurgården accepts responsibility and has defined CSR beyond society commitments and view sustainability as a mean to address key challenges and create an environment where the club is better prepared to meet its obligations. Mentioning a few, the club has taken several initiatives to promote a welcoming and joyful match day-experience for everyone. One initiative among many is the internationally acknowledged ENABLE research project. ENABLE is a project that draws together an international network of key stakeholders and world leading experts in football safety and security. The primary task of the project has been to undertake a programme of evidence gathering in order to analyse, identify and share good practice in the managements of crowds attending Swedish Professional Football Matches. The project is a long-term commitment from various important stakeholders and updated information can be found at www.enable- research.org.
