Welcome through Football Video – #FootballPeople weeks
EFDN and our five members Apollon FC, Everton in the Community, FC Emmen, KAA Gent Foundation and Werder Bremen are currently delivering the Welcome through Football programme. The goal of the Pan-European programme is to promote the integration of young refugees. On the occasion of 2019 #FootballPeople weeks, we showcase the programme in a short video.
The video displays project participants from the five different European countries. The young people share their love for football. They all like to win, they all like to score a goal. They all had overcome challenges like a new language or a new culture through visiting the programmes of our member clubs. The children and youth experienced togetherness and received a warm welcome from the coaches and the other project participants. In the end, football is our game and everyone is welcomed to join our teams.
Developing a new methodology
Welcome through Football is not only about delivering football sessions for children. Using the experience and expertise of the clubs the project intends to develop and deliver a comprehensive football-based social inclusion methodology, as well as to train refugees to become coaches to support their inclusion into society and the labour market. Through the sharing of best practice, knowledge and experiences Welcome through Football aims to identify the key success factors in order to deliver and prove the Welcome through Football methodology in the cities/countries of the 5 collaborating members. This methodology will be made available to other professional grassroots clubs with a view to supporting and inspiring them to start their own activities and programmes for refugees.
WELCOME THROUGH FOOTBALL IS A 3 STEPS PROCESS:
- Socialisation to sports – providing different football offerings for young refugees of both genders related to their specific requirements such as language skills or the possibility of trauma.
- Socialisation in sports – working on team structure, giving more responsibility to the participants and offering additional steps out with the sports training sessions.
- Socialisation through sports – Focusing on the skills the participants learn from taking part in the available offers so that they qualify for further education in and outside of sports.
