Olympique Lyonnais opens the first class of its FIER program

Olympique Lyonnais opens the first class of its FIER program

Olympique Lyonnais opened at the start of the 2022 academic year, the first promotion of the FIER program (Football Inclusion Emploi newcomers), integrated training preparing to work in sports structures.

Aimed at newcomers to French territory and beneficiaries of international protection, this training takes place throughout the school year and offers both theoretical courses and work-study programs in sports associations, to obtain the professional title of administrative and reception employee.

These courses will bring together learners selected by Kabubu, an association that contributes to the social and professional inclusion of exiled people through sport, as well as some young players from the Academy who are facing academic difficulties.

Olympique Lyonnais and its integrated training organization are thus opening an innovative and inclusive operational preparation for collective employment (POEC), financed by the Skills Operator and remunerated by Pôle emploi. A training program designed and built in collaboration with the Social Innovation Department of the Afdas which allows learners to increase their skills, develop a versatile profile, and equip young people with the Academy prematurely out of the education system , additional training giving them access to an additional work-study course.

For twelve weeks – from September to November 2022 – learners aged 18 to 29 will take professional French and digital refresher courses provided by Kabubu and Formapi at the club’s Academy. The curriculum also includes introductory courses in animation and professional workshops organized at Groupama Stadium. Social, administrative and professional support is also set up by Kabubu for learners to help them remove the peripheral obstacles to the success of the training.

At the end of the POEC, learners will have the opportunity to access a second work-study training course in a sports structure, from December 2022 to June 2023 to prepare for a professional title of reception administrative employee. The network of partner clubs of Olympique Lyonnais as well as the structures of the FIER program will be mobilized to offer apprenticeship or work-study opportunities to learners.

Olympique Lyonnais, accompanied by key players in the field of training and employment, reaffirms its strong involvement in the education of young people in its territory and its desire to offer innovative solutions to support future citizens and lead to employment.

Offered on the site of OL Academy, the leading training center in France and regularly ranked in the top 3 in Europe, this unique training course for young people with multiple backgrounds and sometimes excluded from traditional school circuits, promotes the unifying and inclusive role of the world football and sport in general.

“We are very happy to welcome the first promotion of the FIER program to our Academy. This project is the culmination of a desire common to all the players to promote the sharing of experiences, the diversity and the determination of the participants to move forward in their journey as young citizens with the final objective of accessing the employability. It is a great satisfaction for us to discover the enthusiasm of these young people and the supervisors of the program who all immediately understood the interest of our approach and the need to give a chance to all these young men and women with atypical. With FIER, sport puts people back at the heart of priorities.”

“Kabubu is very happy to support Olympique Lyonnais in this innovative training program. FIER is fully in line with our mission: to create professional opportunities in the sports sector while contributing to the inclusion of exiled people! After 7 collective information meetings and 62 applications, 3 women and 9 men are taking part in the programme. Through the individual support of learners as well as tailor-made training modules, we do everything we can to guarantee the success of learners in this training.”

“Supporting professionals in our sectors to implement inclusive policies is one of Afdas ‘ major strategic orientations for the years to come. Promoting the economic and sustainable inclusion of 12 people benefiting from international protection and newcomers is therefore fully in line with this objective, with two contributions from the Skills Operator to the initial project: educational engineering, to orchestrate courses adapted to the needs of companies and young people, financial engineering to enable 100% financing of the training course. A real social utility project that demonstrates the integrating virtues of Sport: To be modeled without counting!”

Jean-François Vulliez, Director of OL Academy