Programme to bring disabled people in leadership positions

Programme to bring disabled people in leadership positions

The Centre for Access to Football in Europe (CAFE) planned to launch the ‘Football For All’ Leadership Programme. It has been developed with other partners across Europe and will be conducted by the Integrated Dreams Association.

The aim of the programme is to educate, develop and integrate the underrepresented global population of disabled people, into the world of football leadership. The application window for the programme runs from 24 April until 18 July 2018. The leadership course will then begin this autumn.

CAFE Managing Director Joanna Deagle said, “CAFE is proud to support the Football For All Leadership Programme. We see this as a great step in enabling disabled people to overcome existing barriers in the working world, particularly through the world’s most popular sport”.

Huge gap between expectations and reality

According to the European Disability Forum there are currently more than 80 million disabled people living within the European Union, totalling around 15% of Europe’s population. Only a small number of disabled people is actually present in the management of the football sector. But research undertaken by CAFE found that 85% of disabled people would like to see other disabled people appointed to senior governance levels within football, whilst only 19% felt that football clubs and national associations recognise the benefits of having disabled people as employees. Furthermore, 40% of disabled fans felt that football isn’t or wouldn’t be a welcoming environment for disabled people as employees, volunteers or decision makers. Over one billion disabled people are alive today – the world’s largest minority group – so it is crucial that disabled people have the same opportunities to work within the game as non-disabled people.

Comprising of three sessions, the course will focus on developing management skills, enhancing football knowledge, improving leadership potential and promoting overall personal development. This programme has the support of 3 top European Universities: Trinity College Dublin, Nova University of Lisbon and the IUN Football Management Institute. All the participants in this programme will receive a certificate issued by these Universities.