EFDN clubs meet for General Assembly at Camp Nou
On the 18th November, more than 50 EFDN clubs attended the General Assembly in the press conference room of the Camp Nou, Barcelona. EFDN summarised its activities in 2019, introduced its staff members, and discussed the delivery plan and budget for 2020 with more than 60 club representatives.
Ton Strooband, Chair of the EFDN Board and Head of Social Affairs at Feyenoord, opened the EFDN General Assembly. Ton welcomed the new members and said: “More and more partners and governing bodies see EFDN as the go-to company for CSR in football. EFDN is growing quickly, and we have welcomed several new members this year. In total 80 clubs and three leagues are now part of EFDN. Although we are growing fast, we want to continue to be a stable and reliable organisation.”
But the Chairman also had some “bad news”. Jan Ryrlén, Head of CSR at IF Elfsborg, will be leaving the board. Jan has been part of the board since 2018 and has taken this decision, due to new tasks at his club and time concerns. “It was a pleasure to work with all the other board members. EFDN has grown into a very big and important organisation in CSR in football”, he said. I had a very good time and will still come to future EFDN Conferences.”
Ton Strooband used the opportunity to call for applications: “We would prefer if we have seven board members in the future. We would also be happy to welcome a woman on the board.”
Hubert Rovers, CEO of EFDN, gave an overview of EFDN´s activities in 2019. “We went from three projects last year to a total of 19 programmes the following year. There are a variety of clubs that are joining our programmes and we invite everyone to become an active member of EFDN. We are now running programmes on health, education, social cohesion and anti-discrimination. Several FAs are joining the network in 2020, so now we are a network of clubs, leagues and FAs.”
Rovers explained the delivery plan and budget for 2020. The first time in the five-year history of EFDN the budget will be more than 1 million euros. “This is a huge step for us. But it is also a lot of responsibility”, said Rovers. Therefore, EFDN invested a lot in staff and the organisational structure. The CEO presented all staff members and their roles within the organisation.
To conclude, Rovers outlined the plans for 2020, and in particular highlighted the fundraising opportunities. EFDN is looking for new hosts of youth and staff exchanges in 2020. Furthermore, EFDN wants to increase the visibility of the CSR work of the clubs during the #Morethanfootball Action Weeks, they also want to promote the EFDN Learning Platform and the 1% Fair Share Initiative, and conduct research on the impact of the members.
Rovers presents all EFDN activities tomorrow again at the 13th EFDN Conference.
