Willem II joins the European Football for Development Network

EFDN welcomes Willem II to the network as a new official member. The Dutch professional football club and its foundation Willem II Betrokken want to exchange knowledge and grow their network.

In addition to providing attractive football, social involvement is of paramount importance to Willem II. Therefore, in order to connect both football and society together, as best as possible, the Willem II Betrokken Foundation was established in 2016.

Willem II Betrokken supports, guides, and initiates social initiatives in Tilburg and the surrounding area, making use of the power and image of Willem II.

Together with their partners and through their activities and projects, the Club is committed to supporting everyone in Tilburg and to influence society in a positive way. Willem II is more than just football!

Willem II focuses on the following themes:

Talent development
Participation
Positive Health

For each theme, several local parties are involved, which creates a connection between entrepreneurs, social organisations, welfare, education, and citizens, always keeping in mind environmental sustainability.

Listed below are some examples of the projects Willem II operate:

Willem II Football Memories- Every two weeks about 30 elderly people, who are lonesome or have senile dementia, gather in the stadium to share football memories and talk about Willem II. Thanks to their work in this field in 2019 they won the Denkbeeldprijs Dementie (Dementia Image Prize).

Scoor een Boek!- In this project, children try to read as many books as possible, in other words: score books. After 10 weeks of reading the whistle will sound at the Koning Willem II stadium. There will be a sporty conclusion with a WOW factor for all children and of course the number of “scored” books will be announced.

Blindentribune- Every home game the Club has activities around the game, such as the blind stand when every home game 2 reporters provide a detailed match report for blind and partially sighted people.

If you would like to find out more information about Willem II, then you can visit their member page here.