Shakhtar Social wins More than Football Award 2019

Shakhtar Social won the first More than Football Award. EFDN members chose the project “Come On, Let’s Play!” as the winner at the 13th EFDN Conference in Barcelona. The goal of the More than Football Award is to honour the best social initiatives in Europe delivered by a European club, league or FA.

Community and Social Responsibility in European Football is unfortunately still one of the best-kept secrets in sport and society. To increase the visibility of the positive impact of European football, EFDN decided to introduce the More than Football Award. “Come On, Let’s Play!” promotes football, social inclusion and values throughout Ukraine. Shakhtar Social delivers the project at more than 50 playgrounds in 28 different cities and towns in Ukraine.

The aim of the winning project is to improve social inclusion of children living close to the frontline, refugees and socially disadvantaged children. In total, 240 children disabilities participate in the football and educational sessions in 6 of the 28 different locations. Shakhtar Social and the club have actively promoted the programme during the #Morethanfootball Action Weeks 2019. Together, the club and Shakhtar Social organised a training session of FC Shakhtar players together with 25 kids with disabilities, raised awareness on World Autism Day and hosted the kick-off of a school football league for 160 children in a disadvantaged neighborhood in Mariupol – close to the frontline.

Inna Khmyzova, Director of Shakhtar Social Foundation received the award from EFDN CEO Hubert Rovers. Kmyzova said: “It is an honour to receive the More than Football Award. This award is not only a recognition but also a great motivation for us to continue with the “Come On, Let’s Play” and our other programmes.”

Chelsea FC Foundation, Juventus and Rangers Charity Foundation shortlisted

EFDN received high-quality applications from all over Europe. Our EFDN team, under guidance of our independent EFDN Board Member Phil Duffy selected 10 clubs for the initial longlist. Afterwards, the EFDN team members had the difficult task of choosing 4 clubs for the final shortlist. All projects have been selected on basis of the following criteria:

The project needs to be promoted by the club, league or FA during the More than Football Action Weeks.
The project needs to be delivered by the club, league or FA and cannot be an an external initiative that is supported by the club, league or FA.
The project must have a proven positive impact in the community.
The project can be replicated by different sized clubs, leagues and FAs in Europe.

After taking different aspects into consideration, the following 4 applications were selected:

Chelsea FC Foundation – Say No to Antisemitism
Juventus FC – Juventus Special@School
Rangers Charity Foundation – The Programme of Wider Achievement
Shakhtar Social – Come on, Let’s Play!

All 4 shortlisted organisations presented their project in a 15-minute presentation at the Auditorium. You can find more information on the 13th EFDN Conference in Barcelona here.