SAFER (Support & Awareness for Female fans in European football through Research, prevention, and remedy) is a new Erasmus+ funded three-year multi-partner project lead by Football Supporters Europe (FSE).
The project will see supporters and a cross section of experts and football stakeholders work together to tackle gender-based violence and discrimination in the game by establishing prevention and remedy mechanisms for football fans and other match attendees.
Consultation with affected groups, survivors and affected persons of gender-based violence, match organisers, and experts in prevention and remedy mechanisms will enable the project’s unique consortium to collate innovative and evidence-based responses to gender-based violence in and around stadia before outlining a plan to move towards prevention.
The project is supported by UEFA, the Sport & Rights Alliance, and the Centre for Sport & Human Rights.
The project will achieve its aims through:
- research into the extent of gender-based violence within football stadia and match-related activities;
- identification and promotion of good practice and development of recommendations in the prevention of gender-based violence;
- and production of a remedy policy and associated guidelines to support the survivors of gender-based violence.
Ultimately the project has been designed to create the components to ensure football is safe and welcoming to all, both on the pitch and in the stands.
Along with FSE, SAFER’s project partners are:
- Female Supporters’ network: DFF – FanNetværket for Kvinder (Denmark)
- National Football Association: Deutscher Fussball-Bund (Germany)
- Grassroots football club: Atletico San Lorenzo (Italy)
- Professional football clubs: European Football for Development Network (Netherlands)
- Academia: Uniwersytet Gdański (Poland)
- Public authority: Autoridade para a Prevenção e Combate à Violência no Desporto (Portugal)
Project partners have already met online and will meet together in April for the first in-person meeting.
Any group or person interested in the topic of gender-based violence or aware of any current mechanisms or guidance in existence that might be relevant to the work can contact the project coordination team at: info@fanseurope.org