WORLD REFUGEE DAY 2021 – Meet our Welcome Through Football Partners
As the World Refugee Day approaches on 20th June, there is an ever-growing need to highlight the plight of people who are forced to flee their homes due to various reasons, ranging from war and poverty to destruction, climate change and poor living conditions. Football’s stature as a global tool to foster social inclusion and community development has the capacity to be utilised on a larger scale and on this year’s international day, EFDN aims to bring into spotlight the ‘Welcome Through Football’ programme.
Welcome Through Football is an EFDN initiative with the vision of integrating young refugees, asylum seekers and migrants. Last year, EFDN has launched a new programme in collaboration with 9 partner clubs spread throughout Europe – from AEK Athens in Greece to Big Hearts Community Trust in Scotland – in order to foster physical activity and social inclusion among target groups. The programme is funded by the Erasmus+ progamme of the European Union.
In order to expose more clubs & organisations to the Welcome Through Football methodology, we asked clubs to point out what prompted them to join the project in the first place. Here is what they have to share:
AEK Athens (Athens, Greece)
“AEK FC was founded by Greek refugees who lost their homelands and came to Athens after the disaster of Asia Minor. As a club of that origin we are very sensitive towards social matters, especially the ones concerning refugees.”
Everton in the Community (Liverpool, England)
“We have taken part in this project to help support the integration of refugee and asylum seekers into the city and people of Liverpool.”
Werder Bremen (Bremen, Germany)
“We joined the WTF project to exchange best practices and to ease terms of social participation for refugees via sports. Sports can be a catalyst for social participation and promotion. We are convinced that taking part in the project will bring communities together by broadening the horizon of us as an organization and of the participants.”
Big Hearts Community Trust (Edinburgh, Scotland)
“We want to create more inclusive opportunities for those in our local community who want to participate in football and joining Welcome through Football allows us to work with other clubs, and collaborate with partners across Europe.”
Fundação Benfica (Lisbon, Portugal)
“Since the beginning of Benfica Foundation we have been developing inclusion through sports projects. So, when we had the opportunity to add another meaningful target group we immediately accepted a new challenge. Our decision to be part of Welcome through Football was especially relevant when we saw that the Portuguese public entities managing the inclusion of refugees and migrants recognizes in sports and football a very important role.”
FC Emmen (Emmen, The Netherlands)
“We at FC Emmen want to mean something for all our target groups. We have never had a project with refugees in the past. Now in collaboration with EFDN, different European football clubs work together to offer the refugees something that they do not have in their home country. Through the Welcome through Football project, we can offer the refugees something they can learn and help in their development and we can get the smile back on the faces of the refugees.”
Sheffield United Community Foundation (Sheffield, England)
“Our mission is to provide equal opportunities to help develop personal skills, promote health and wellbeing, improve academic achievement and inspire people to unlock their potential. Welcome through Football enables us to fulfil our mission by using the power of football to support refugees and migrants who are seeking sanctuary in Sheffield and to create a safe, stronger and more inclusive community where everyone has the opportunity to participate and progress.”
KAA Gent (Ghent, Belgium)
“We want to learn from other foundations on how they set up and run social inclusion programs. More specific on how social inclusion programs stimulate the integration of refugees. We want to develop a sustainable buddy/coaching program for development programs and make them more accessible to refugees. 6 years ago we created a network between all local grassroots football clubs in Ghent. One of the goals is to make these clubs more accessible, open and more community involved. One of the challenges within the program is to get refugee players registered by the football association. Tackling this problem would be hugely beneficial, not only for the refugees in our city, also for refugees in different cities.”
Newcastle United Foundation (Newcastle, England)
“Football is a universal language and promotes positive health and wellbeing as well as harnessing role models and leadership. By the bringing the project to a new area and connect with people who otherwise would not have had the opportunity. We would like to bring some new ideas and approaches to the project in order to share with delivery partners.”
Read more about the Welcome Through Football project here.
Funding partners
