“Endless potential” for football clubs through CSR

“Endless potential” for football clubs through CSR

EFDN presented the CSR-panel at the Future of Football Business Conference in Graz on 12 September. Our CEO Hubert Rovers informed the attendees about the work of EFDN. Simon Taylor (Chelsea FC), Nicky Reid (SPFL Trust) and Henrik Oesau (SV Werder Bremen) presented their CSR-strategies. 

The Future of Football Business is the conference for digitization, innovation and future topics in the football business. EFDN exhibited during the event and we met a lot of club representatives and interested companies. Read short summaries of the presentations from our three guest speakers below:

NICKY REID – SPFL TRUST

Nicky Reid has worked in professional football for more than 10 years. n 2013 she joined the SPFL Trust and took over as General Manager in the spring of 2015. Under Nicky’s leadership, the SPFL Trust has launched a new strategic plan 2016-2021. Nicky explained how the SPFL Trust and the Scottish clubs create a huge social impact although the financial resources are limited. She presented the development of the Football Fans in Training programme which was implemented also by clubs from other countries and shows the innovative capabilities of the SPFL Trust and its partners. Nicky said: “There is endless potential of fan engagement through CSR.”

SIMON TAYLOR – CHELSEA FC

Simon Taylor is Head of the Chelsea Foundation, one of the leading community organisations in sport. Simon joined Chelsea in 2005 and helped create and establish the Chelsea Foundation in 2010 and has overseen the successful expansion of Chelsea’s community programmes throughout South England and 45 countries internationally. He emphasised that the education of the staff and the control of the project implementation are important success factors for the foundation’s work. Simon stated that big quantity and good quality are possible at the same time if working processes are organised professionally. He presented the anti-semitism campaign, the equality programme and the work in several refugee camps as best practices.

HENRIK OESAU – SV WERDER BREMEN

Since 2015 Henrik has been trying to use the power of football as a catalyst for social inclusion and social advancement at Werder Bremen. For that, he coordinates several projects for young refugees next to the Weser-Stadium and in different neighbourhoods of Bremen. He described how the CSR-activities grew continuously and the club reshaped its social engagement to provide a good quality while focusing on the city of Bremen. The club wants that everyone in the region is able to practice sports. Therefore, SV Werder Bremen, for example, support schools by delivering sports and football sessions.

Read more about EFDN’s activities here. 

Photos by Kerstin Kronabether and Christof Hütter: