EFDN Project chosen to be supported by UEFA Foundation

EFDN Project chosen to be supported by UEFA Foundation

EFDN is proud to announce that Community Champions was selected out of 1,227 applications which were submitted for funding by the UEFA Foundation for Children. It concerns an EFDN project with project partners from the Netherlands, Bulgaria, Greece, Ukraine, Hungary, UK and Spain chosen as one of 67 humanitarian projects to be supported. These new football projects will give even more children in need the promise of a better life.

On 30 November, the board of trustees, chaired by UEFA president Aleksander Čeferin, met to review recent projects and their impact and discuss the institution’s future. This session was attended by a special guest, the FC Seville striker Ivan Rakitić who is a UEFA Foundation for Children ambassador.

”It has been an honour to be invited to participate to the UEFA Foundation board meeting, to meet its members, and to have the opportunity to be involved in discussions that will certainly change the life of many children around the world”.

Ivan Rakitić

The past year saw the complete resumption of football activities in the communities the foundation supports. By listening to their partners, UEFA Foundation was able to adapt their assistance to the most pressing needs. Last season, 30 stadiums were built or renovated, 424 lots of equipment and 2,920 balls were donated to the host cities by the foundation along with 17 tonnes of material from UEFA EURO 2020 and other UEFA competitions for reuse by local football clubs and children’s charities. One of the most anticipated agenda items was the selection of new projects following the call for submissions sent out during the summer. A total of 1,227 entries were eligible for shortlisting.

After careful review, 68 projects were chosen to share the total budget of €5,099,391, half of which was allocated to European projects and the remainder to other continents. This year, it was decided to give special assistance to two projects supporting education in Afghanistan and to the NGOs helping the children stranded between Belarus and Poland.

”The last few months have been difficult, and we have often had to respond to emergencies. Our foundation has more than ever an important social role to play by strengthening its support for the most vulnerable ones around the world. It enables European football to assume its social responsibilities and to lead by example in this area.”

Aleksander Čeferin

Community Champions (CC) is a social street football competition for young people aged 7 to 15 years old, organised locally across Europe. The project includes two seasons, with 12 teams in each community playing 10 games per season. Emphasis is placed on the attitudes and behaviours of the participants, more than on their footballing ability. Teams can win two-thirds of their points through Fair-Play, completing social action projects in their communities or attending workshops. The objectives are to:

• Tackle racism, discrimination and violence in sport. 
• Celebrate diversity. 
• Enable social inclusion in and through sport. 
• Promote social cohesion through sport. 
• Promote active citizenship. 
• Promote voluntary activity in sport. 
• Promote involvement of parents and neighbours. 
• Enable social inclusion and acceptance of refugees and migrants in European communities. 
• Enhance social capital of participants. 
• Reduce small street crime. 
• Teach valuable life skills. 
• Promote healthy lifestyle. 

We also want to congratulate our member Shakhtar Social for being selected for funding by the UEFA Foundation.

A SUCCESSFUL PARTNERSHIP

EFDN would like to extend our thanks and express our gratitude to the UEFA Foundation for the approval of the Community Champions Project.

Would you like to become a member or partner and get involved in future projects? Read more here and contact us via email at info@efdn.org.