Olympique Lyonnais rewarded for its “Engaged for Employment” project

Olympique Lyonnais rewarded for its “Engaged for Employment” project

EFDN member OL Fondation of Olympique Lyonnais won the “Professional Sport Actors” Trophy for its “Engaged for Employment” project during the 2022 Sport & Management Trophies evening organized at the National Assembly on September 28, 2022 (France).

Since 2013, the Trophées Sport & Management have been awarded to projects and players in the field who innovate by putting sport at the service of social, educational, digital, economic or strategic performance, or of a personal professional project.

As the winner of the Sport & Management Awards in 2021, the French LFP has decided to become one of the partners for this edition and to enable the creation of an award dedicated to professional sport. Professional sport has a strong impact on French territories. The League 1 Uber Eats and League 2 BKT clubs are good examples. They are economic players, committed companies that are linked to their territory. Every year, there are more than 2,500 CSR actions and 22 structures (foundations, endowment funds, dedicated associations) in charge of CSR projects within professional football clubs. Throughout the season, the clubs commit themselves to a wide range of themes: sustainable development, the fight against discrimination, employment, sport and health, support for amateur football and charities, child protection and accessibility issues.

The Trophées Sport & Management organisation were therefore keen to create a new category dedicated to professional sport by awarding the “Actors of professional sport” Trophy.

Four professional football clubs were among the six finalists selected by the Jury, with ambitious, concrete and innovative projects: ASSE Cœur-Vert, for its regional education programme, Olympique Lyonnais for its “Committed to Employment” project, Stade Rennais FC for its “Move! The other two finalists in this category were the LDLC ASVEL Féminin (“Empower Yourself Captain of your life” programme) and the Fonds de dotation Rugby Cœur Toulonnais (“Cité une femme” project).

Since 2007, OL Foundation’s mission has been to promote equal opportunities and has made employment a priority, particularly for the most disadvantaged groups. Since 2016, with the inauguration of the Groupama Stadium in Décines-Charpieu, a new scheme has been created with the company Nes & Cité (a player specialising in mediation in the neighbourhoods) and with Pôle emploi. Called “Cité des entreprises pour l’emploi” (City of companies for employment), this programme led by OL Foundation has organised more than 90 events in 6 years, with an average of 2 actions per month.

These events are free of charge for the companies: publication of offers, search for candidates and link with the various prescribers in the area, pre-selection of candidates and coaching beforehand, organisation of the meeting in one of the areas of the stadium, logistics, etc. They enable the actors to be highlighted to their public (Pôle emploi), to associate complementary expertise and to encourage innovation through collective intelligence and experimentation.

This project is part of the desire to contribute to the development of its territory, to pool energies and resources, and to open up to its stakeholders without a profit motive. This feeds and strengthens the club’s interactions with its entire ecosystem: partners, companies, supporters, local authorities, etc.

The other projects carried out by professional football clubs also contribute on a daily basis to acting for the ecosystem of each club and reinforce this commitment of professional football