Almere City FC Received a Silver Level Certificate for Safe Social Climate

Almere City FC Received a Silver Level Certificate for Safe Social Climate

Almere City FC is the first football club to achieve the silver level certificate and is the first certified Keuken Kampioen Divisie club.

The KNVB has included Kiwa’s Safe Social Climate label in its licence requirements for professional football. This means that no problem areas were identified. The label was created in consultation with the KNVB with the aim of countering cross-border behaviour, racism and discrimination within a sports environment.

”Almere City can be very proud because it is the first football club to achieve the certificate at level ‘silver’. There are three levels: bronze, silver and gold. Silver means that the club has not only set up the safety system well, but was already analysing areas for improvement. Almere City has been looking at this for some time, it is being pre-sorted for the future. Therefore, no shortcomings were found, only points that could be improved. The label has been set up and made testable from the perspective of social workers. The label indicates what needs to be done, but how you do that is up to the clubs themselves. Moreover, within the club, the safety system must be a topic of discussion, so that everyone knows it is there. We also test whether they can spot and resolve cross-border behaviour that applies to trainers, players, host families, volunteers, really to everyone within the organisation. You succeed if you have a system where you know how to catch signals and take measures to make the club safer.”

Anne van Diemen, Scheme manager Care and Welfare at Kiwa

Call from Toon Gerbrands
The cooperation between the KNVB and Kiwa originated in 2020 when former PSV general manager Toon Gerbrands made an appeal during a guest lecture to develop a quality label for a safe sports climate. Kiwa developed a standard in response to that call. From 2024, certification is mandatory for clubs in the Keuken Kampioen Divisie. Almere City FC is the first Keuken Kampioen Divisie club to receive the certificate.

“Almere City FC has consciously chosen to be the first Keuken Kampioen Divisie club to enter into this certification. We are certified in the field of social safety. Our way of working and communicating increases the prevention of unsafe behaviour. We are very happy to obtain this certificate. We see a safe working environment as incredibly important for Almere City FC’s growth. Increasingly, we are a hub for cooperation with citizens, companies, organisations and institutions. And then it’s nice that everyone feels free and comfortable in the contribution they make to this.”

Christian Wiedeman, Chief Everyone Matters of Almere City FC