Pro League clubs take steps towards inclusion and more specifically for people from the LGBTQIA+ community

Pro League clubs take steps towards inclusion and more specifically for people from the LGBTQIA+ community

This season, the Pro League joined a European project, All In & Win led by its partner European Football for Development Network (EFDN) with funds from the European Commission under the Erasmus Plus programme. Union Saint-Gilloise and SK Beveren are the first clubs to take steps towards inclusion and more specifically for people from the LGBTQIA+ community.

This European project, called All In & Win, brings together various partners from the hockey and football sectors in countries such as Romania, the Czech Republic, Spain, the Netherlands, Germany and, now, Belgium. The All In & Win project aims to develop, test and offer concrete tools for European sports clubs that want to become more inclusive for people from the LGBTQIA+ community, both for athletes, fans and employees. Expert organisations such as the John Blankenstein Foundation from the Netherlands and the renowned Institute for Sociology and Gender Studies at the Sport University Cologne are also part of the project consortium.

As part of this project, Union Saint-Gilloise and SK Beveren seized the opportunity, together with the Pro League and the other project partners, to develop an action plan to work in this area. The two pilot clubs will start with an internal evaluation in order to get a clear picture of the current state of play and perceptions within the club around this topic. Then, they will establish the necessary documents and guidelines to create a framework within which the club wishes to work with respect to the values and standards of inclusion within the club. In addition, the programme includes a number of activities that are part of the internal training on this topic, work on inclusive communication and raising awareness among all those involved in the club.

The project will run until the end of 2024 and the Pro League wants to leverage this to provide inspiration and expertise to its clubs to take the necessary steps to become a safe and inclusive club and business for LGBTQIA+ people.