EFDN Highlights – October, November & December

EFDN Highlights – October, November & December

As 2023 comes to an end, EFDN invites you to look back on this year’s remarkable activities, projects and news stories. Again, 2023 has been a truly inspiring and succesful year in which we could welcome a lot of our members at our conferences and the tournaments. We take pride in having showcased the social impact of football once again over the past year, through a variety of projects and initiatives. We are ready to make football matter again in 2024! But before we look ahead, let’s have a look at some highlights from October, November and December 2023.

Dutch More than Football Conference in Utrecht

European Football for Development Network (EFDN) and the Eredivisie CV (ECV) jointly organised the ‘More than football conference’ on Tuesday 10 October 2023. The congress took place in Stadion Galgenwaard, home of FC Utrecht. The day was entirely dedicated to making social impact through the power of football.

The conference is about the impact that Eredivsie clubs (can) have in society, from various perspectives such as governments, businesses and sports organisations. Cooperation between these parties is essential to successfully tackle social issues such as sustainability, inclusion and creating a healthy(er) society.

Click here for the full recap!

More than Football Funds

During the More than Football Conference in Utrecht, the More than Football Fund Cheques were awarded. With this fund, EFDN and Unibet want to further strengthen the social power of the clubs and increase the impact of the projects.

Thanks to the ‘More than Football Fund’, Dutch EFDN members can apply for a grant of EUR 2,500 to EUR 10,000 for innovative projects for which they have difficulty obtaining funding from other funds. With this fund, together with Unibet Impact, EFDN wants to further strengthen the innovation of social projects and the cooperation between clubs. The cheques for 2023 were handed over by Wouter Smeulders for Unibet on behalf of the Kindred Group and Hanna Kernkamp, Manager Operations at EFDN.

First Football for Climate Justice reports published

Football for Climate Justice delivered the first two reports about fans perspective on climate justice; the Research Report and the Community & Fan Survey Report. The reports emphasise the importance of localisation and community-led development, highlighting the opportunity for clubs to empower communities to lead and even own the transition process, not simply participate in it.

Following a community-wealth building approach, the report explores how clubs can encourage and support the initiatives like developing community-owned renewable energy projects, the creation of jobs in the low-carbon economy, and enabling their fans and local communities to have a voice in the decision making process on climate action.

Click here to see the reports!

20th EFDN ‘Making Football Matter’ Conference in Athens

The 20th EFDN ‘Making Football Matter’ Conference took place in Athens last November! We started with several seminars, hosted in the hotel. After that, the League & FA meeting took place in the press room of the OPAP Arena, followed by a welcome dinner for all attendees at the rooftop restaurant of the hotel. We can look back at three inspiring and insightful days at the OPAP Arena.

Tuesday was the official opening of the conference for all attendees. The programme featured presentations from all four shortlisted clubs (KRC Genk, FCM Samfund, St Johnstone Community Trust & Legia Foundation) for the More than Football Award 2023, Manchester City in the Community Foundation, River Plate Foundation, the conference host AEK Athens FC and many more interesting speakers from organisations all over Europe! In addition to the main stage activities, there were four break-outsessions planned on Tuesday and Wednesday. This will give the attendees the opportunity to have a more interactive session which allows them to delve deeper into their favourite topics!

In addition we had two panel discussions: the Welcome through Football Panel and the Women in Football Panel!

Fundacja Legii winner of More than football Award 2023

On Tuesday the 14th of November 2023 Fundacja Legii have been announced as the winner of the #Morethanfootball Award powered by Musco Lighting.

The goal of the More than Football Award is to honour the best social initiatives in Europe delivered by a European Club, League or FA by celebrating the work they do on and off-pitch on a local, national and international levels. We handed out the Award for the best project promoted during the 20th EFDN Conference in Athens, Greece, which will be assessed not only on the quality of the project but also on the level of promotion and engagement. The 2023 #Morethanfootball Award is powered by Musco Lighting.

As voted by all the attending member clubs at the 20th EFDN Conference, the best social initiative delivered by a European Club, League or FA, is #ReadyToHelp Refugees from Ukraine.

For more information, click here!