European Stakeholders To Hold Meeting on Tackling Homophobia in Football

European Stakeholders To Hold Meeting on Tackling Homophobia in Football

A consortium of European institutions will next week come together to discuss initiatives and measures in place or that could be formulated to tackle the issue of homophobia in football. The meeting on 15 October will be the third transnational network meeting of OUT – Fighting Homophobia And Empowering LGBT+ Stakeholders In Football and entitled ‘The Role of Associations and Leagues in Tackling Homophobia in Football’.

The meeting, organised by Football Supporters Europe, will be held online due to ongoing gathering and movement restrictions as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. The network meeting is part of their project “OUT! – Fighting Homophobia and Empowering LGBT+ Stakeholders in Football”. This project, funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union and UEFA, aims to bring together different stakeholders in the fight against anti-LGBT+ positions in the beautiful game. It is a cooperation of Football Supporters Europe e.V., Pride in Football (England), the Royal Belgian Football Association (Belgium) and Fußballfans gegen Homophobie e.V. (Germany).

The first network meeting focusing on the role of fans took place in October 2019 at London Stadium, home of West Ham United. The second focused on the role of players and clubs and took place in January 2020 at Signal Iduna Park/Westfalenstadion, home of Borussia Dortmund. Next Thursday’s meeting will consist of a panel discussion on diversity in football seeking to identify challenges and opportunities that come with it. Additionally, the role of sexual minorities in this broader discussion will be examined.

There shall also be two workshop sessions. One will zero in on how leagues and national associations involve supporter groups to create a more inclusive football environment. This portion of the meeting will examine how fans can be brought ob board as allies to support inclusiveness for all in football. The second workshop session will have participants sharing good practices to be more inclusive for LGBT+ individuals. This will be as it relates to athletes, fans and other stakeholders.

Football Supporters Europe welcomes football stakeholders to discuss strategies against homophobia with other national associations and league representatives from all over Europe. The initial event was scheduled to take place at the Belgian FAs headquarter in Brussels, but due to impact that COVID-19 is having and will continue to have on everyday life, it was rescheduled to an online-only meeting.

Register here for the 15 October meeting.