More than Football Award longlist

More than Football Award longlist

EFDN is pleased to announce the longlist of the More than Football Award. From an array of high-quality submissions for the award, the following 10 projects have been selected for the initial 10 projects longlist.

The shortlist will be announced on the 29th of September. Shortlisted organisations will be invited to present at the 16th EFDN Conference in Breda, The Netherlands (9-10 November). EFDN members will decide on the winner by voting.

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. The winner receives not only recognition for having implemented the most innovative and impactful Community and Social Responsibility programme in European football, but also wins a complete branded Mini-Pitch System modular sports solution which will be developed in partnership between the winning organisation, EFDN and sponsor Musco Lighting. The longlist:

Athletic Club Foundation – Athletic Club Cultural Project

The Athletic Club Foundation schedules two festivals (one for literature and one for football) each year. Festivals are a way to promote a different football, while showing football as an essential part of the culture. Each festival programme includes meetings and several parallel activities, such as reading promotion campaigns, book publications, art exhibitions and more. This programme involves players from the two main teams of the club: male and female, including reading clubs with boys and girls from educational centers and from their football school. In recent years, the club is publishing books written by our players, which are distributed free of charge in educational centers and children’s football clubs. 

Barca Foundation – Sport as a tool for inclusion in Juvenile Justice Centers

Barça Foundation began its activities at some of the Educational Centres of the Justice Department of the Catalan Government in the 2016/17 season. Barça Foundation is committed to the application of a series of socio-educational actions that promote social integration and that provide a structure for compliance with the rules and the acquiring of responsibility of minors and young people who come under Catalan jurisdiction. The FutbolNet methodology applied in Juvenile Justice Centres, which is the pedagogical tool that is implemented during social/sports sessions and which uses physical activity as a tool for social change, is aimed at achieving the objectives described above. The program has reached 467 participants since 2016/17 season. 

Bayer 04 Leverkusen – The good neighbour

As a good neighbour, Bayer 04 supports local initiatives and institutions that face particular challenges during the pandemic. We are doing this in cooperation with our employees, fans, sponsors, municipal stakeholders and all those who want to do their bit to help get through this difficult phase. The main objectives of initiatives like online projects, challenges, fundraising and fan actions are to support the socially disadvantaged, promote social cohesion and financially support local institutions whose existence is threatened by the pandemic.

Big Hearts – The Big Hearts Supporters’ Movement

Big Hearts Supporters are a leading light in Scottish football and remain at the centre of everything that Big Hearts does. On average every year, they contribute to more than 4,000 hours of meaningful support changing the lives of hundreds of vulnerable adults and children. In 2020 amidst the pandemic, over 145 brand-new Big Hearts Supporters stepped up to volunteer with us. In the first six months of lockdown, our charity had supported 8,000 vulnerable people – three times more than in the previous 12 months. The determination and kindness from Hearts fans enabled us to create new initiatives, where volunteers could get involved safely whilst providing vital support to groups most at risk of Covid-19.

FC Twente – Integration of the Turkish community in Twente

In region Twente of the Netherlands, there are families within the Turkish community who isolate themselves from society. Their own culture is leading and the Dutch culture comes second. As a result, many Turkish people lag behind in terms of language skills and knowledge/interaction with Dutch culture. For 3 years FC Twente carried out the project ” It’s up to the Turkish community”, aimed at the social-cultural integration of Turkish families from the Twente region into Dutch society. The Turkish community itself took the initiative and offered support to improve and intensify the sociocultural integration of 51 participating Turkish families (130 persons) from 2017 to 2021. This was done under FC Twente, Scoring in the Neighborhood, the social foundation that is working for residents in the Twente region who could use an extra helping hand.  

Juventus – Differences make the difference

#Differences Make The Difference is another initiative as part of Juventus Goals. On the occasion of the International Day against Racial Discrimination as part of the “Differences Make The Difference” campaign, an unprecedented initiative has take place, which involved the Women’s First Team and the Men’s First Team. The Juventus players weared on their backs customised versions of the shirt numbers (in accordance to Lega Serie A regulations) that featured, from 0 to 9, a statistic linked to racism.

LFC Foundation – Community Hubs: We are in your community

Community hubs allow the LFC Foundation to deliver a hyper local offer for the most deprived communities in Liverpool. Working with local community facilities we can add value to their provision by supporting with physical improvements to the space but also delivering our programmes from the centres. During the pandemic we have provided over 800 essential food parcels to those in need and engaged with 1000 people across the community hub sites. 

MFC Foundation – Walk and Talk

. How often do we find the simple things are often the most effective? MFC Foundation provide a platform where anyone who is struggling with their mental health gets support. The group listened, the people talked, and they did all that while walking in an open space, a park, the seaside, somehere neutral.

PFC Ludogorets – Improve yourself

The previously developed #LiveFriendship project has moved in a new direction, hanging to ‘Improve yourself’.
In this project, the club adapted all initiatives according to the situation and with creativity and a lot of passion. The idea of the project is to help people to improve themselves using the positive impact of football and sport in general.
This project covers not only the young generation, but also adults, who can set a good example, show their knowledge, skills and help the development of children, as well as give them guidelines for development and improvement.

Sheffield United Community Foundation – Fans Fighting Cancer (Fans FC)

Funded by the Premier League and Weston Park Cancer Charity, Fans FC provides free mental health and physical activity support to people affected by cancer. This includes those living with cancer, those looking to improve their health as a means to prevent cancer, and people looking for ways to reduce its impact. Our programme currently supports 197 participants and has continued to support people during the COVID-19 pandemic by delivering a weekly timetable of free online health, low impact physical activity and social sessions for people across the city. 

Football clubs, leagues, FAs and their charities can register for the EFDN Conference in Breda, The Netherlands (9-10 November) here.