Pro League joins the All-in & Win project this season

Pro League joins the All-in & Win project this season

SK Beveren and Union Saint-Gilloise are taking the lead in taking steps as clubs around inclusivity and more specifically for people from the LGBTQIA+ community. This season, the Pro League joined a European project led by EFDN with funds from the European Commission under the Erasmus Plus programme.

This European project, under the name All In & Win, brings together various partners from both hockey and football from 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 to sports clubs in Europe that want to become more inclusive for people from the LGBTQIA+ community, both as athletes, supporters and employees. Expertise organisations such as the John Blankenstein Foundation from the Netherlands and the renowned Institute for Sociology & Gender Studies at the German Sport University in Cologne are also part of the project consortium.

Within the framework of this project, Union Saint-Gilloise and SK Beveren have taken the opportunity to draw up an action plan to get started in cooperation with the Pro League and the other partners in the project. Both pilot clubs will start with an internal evaluation to get a clear picture of the current state of affairs and perceptions within the club around this theme. Then, work will be done on the necessary documents and guidelines to create a framework within which the club wants to work when it comes to values and norms around inclusive living within the club. Furthermore, the programme includes a number of activities around internal training on the theme, working on inclusive communication and raising the awareness of all those involved in the club.

The project will run until the end of 2024, and the Pro League wants to use it to provide inspiration and expertise to its clubs to take the necessary steps towards becoming a safe and inclusive football club and business for people from the LGBTQIA+ community.

All-in & Win

EFDN started a new project called ‘All-in & Win’ to increase knowledge & awareness to recognize discrimination in grassroots sports towards members of the LGBT+ community. Together with two academic institutions, the John Blankenstein Foundation and multiple hockey & football national associations, we aim for the acceptance of LGBT+ and creating a safe & inclusive sport climate for people who identify themselves within the LGBT+ label. 

Participation in sports is a human right and everyone should have the opportunity to enjoy its physical, social and mental health benefits regardless of their sex, sexual oriantation or gender identity. Unfortunately, too many athletes experience discriminitory behavior and intolerance in sport. As a consequence, too many people are not willing to come out because they are afraid of the responses in their sport environment.  

With the support of the European Commission, All-in & Win is setting up a research spreaded around Europe to gather empirical results about racism, discrimination and intolerance of the LGBT+ community in sport. Furthermore, a innovative Pilot Programme to strengthen the capacities and policy making of sport organizations, will be designed, tested and evaluated based upon the key results from the empirical study.  

With the project we hope to educate board members, coaches and referees, creating offline and online educational programs and professionalise the Inclusion & Wellbeing Management of sport federations and organisations.