4th EFDN Conference: Health and wellbeing

4th EFDN Conference: Health and wellbeing

A two-day conference brought together social responsibility club delegates and Foundations’ representatives from all over Europe to discuss different operational, organisational and policy aspects of health and wellbeing projects in football.

Over 30 clubs from 15 European countries were represented at the fourth European Football for Development Network (EFDN) conference, held in Manchester between 24 and 25 March. The football and corporate social responsibility (CSR) meeting also shared and discussed different perspectives on the current status of CSR in professional European football.

The event offered participants the opportunity to visit two practical project sessions delivered by the event’s host, the Manchester United Foundation, and attend number of breakout sessions featuring keynote speakers, such as UEFA Football Social Responsibility senior manager Patrick Gasser, European Healthy Stadia Network Matthew Philpott, European Club Association Marc Schmidgall and Paris Saint Germain Foundation manager Christine Le Gal.

Among the projects shared at the event were the: Manchester United Foundation and NEC Nijmegen heath and nutrition programmes for youngsters; Albion in the Community prostate cancer awareness campaign; Fundação Benfica educational and football sessions; KAA Gent commuting initiative; and Everton in the Community projects addressing mental health. Workshops on how to develop a framework in the sport for development sector and project evaluation and monitoring furthered the conference’s goals of sharing best practice and expertise in the field.