Erasmus+ - Football Supporters Europe

September 8, 2023

FUTURE OF FOOTBALL: A STRONGER VOICE FOR YOUNGER PEOPLE IN THE GAME

Football Supporters Europe (FSE) is excited to announce the beginning of a new Erasmus+ project that will focus on increasing the numbers of young people involved in democratic structures within supporters’ organisations and football clubs.

“Future of Football” will run until Autumn of 2025, and involves supporter organisations and partners from 5 EU countries, England & Wales, and Africa, through the continental fans organisation Sandlanders.

The core project group will work with younger supporters from England & Wales, Germany, Norway, Spain and Sweden to create a series of toolkits and training materials that will then be delivered at selected clubs within each country.

The activity will be supported by research and insight gathered by the Netherlands’ only independent sports research entity, Mulier Institute, which will also deliver tailored analysis for each partner country. A series of national and European youth forums will reinforce the research, learnings, and impact.

FSE Executive Director Ronan Evain said: “At a time when supporters’ voices need to be included more than ever by football’s key stakeholders, it is vital to ensure the priorities of the next generation of active supporters are a part of the conversation too.

“Working with the project partners and our FSE membership, this project will pave the way to establish the foundations for lasting structures of influence for younger supporters at national and European level.”

Future of Football Partners:

FSA, England & Wales;
FSE and Unsere Kurve, Germany
Norsk Supportersallianse, Norway
FASFE, Spain
SFSU, Sweden
Sandlanders, Africa
Mulier Institute, Netherlands

As part of the project, FSE is now looking to recruit four experts in youth participation with funding available to support their involvement (time and travel) in the activities. These experts will contribute their knowledge in and around youth participation, supporting the development of the toolkits and activities. For further information, email: info@fanseurope.org. Expressions of interest will be considered until Friday, September 29th, 2023.

With the core project coordinating group established and research underway, the first in-person project partners meeting is planned for December 2023. As the project progresses, FSE will publish the project’s learning materials and resources to amplify the impact of its outcomes.

In addition, if any FSE members or stakeholders within the game would like to be kept informed of progress and involved in activities where possible, reach out to: info@fanseurope.org.

August 30, 2023

THE NEXT STAGE OF THE SLO ROLE’S EVOLUTION: FSE’S LATEST ERASMUS+ PROJECT

Football Supporters Europe (FSE) is delighted to announce details of its latest Erasmus+ funded project, which aims to take the development of the Supporter Liaison Officer (SLO) role to the next level. The project, titled Towards the Professional Development of SLOs (TPDS), builds on 13 years of expertise of fan organisations’ driving the full and proper implementation of UEFA’s licensing requirement on supporter liaison.

Today, despite the wide embrace of the role across many of Europe’s leagues, there is no consistent approach to exactly what an SLO is or does, or what experience and personal characteristics are needed to be successful in the role. This comes at a time when SLOs are asked to deliver meaningful change for more stakeholders than ever before, fans, clubs, leagues, police, safety staff and many other stakeholders.

TPDS has been designed to identify the specific knowledge, skills, and attributes, commonly known as ‘occupational standards’, needed to excel in the SLO role. The objective in doing so is to help clubs and national associations hire the right people and existing SLOs to fulfil their potential. In parallel, working with four leading universities from across Europe, the project aims to establish pathways for individuals to learn and become experts in supporter liaison through a series of higher education degrees.

In addition, TPDS achieves another milestone for FSE by becoming its first project to feature a partner from South America. Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol (COMNEBOL), the South American Football Confederation, is an official partner in the project, and FSE will work with their staff on developing a road map for the establishment of the SLO role on the continent.

FSE’s Head of SLO Development, Lena Gustafson Wiberg, said: “The SLO role has come a long way over the last 13 years, but it’s now at a stage where to give greater certainty to clubs, supporters, and SLOs themselves, there needs to be robust industry standards and access to professional education in place.

“Many supporters already engage with their club’s SLO. and know the value the role brings to their matchday experience, whether at home or away. This project will have a positive impact for fans because the more SLOs who receive tailored educational support on how best to perform their role, the better matchdays for more supporters across Europe.

“This is our third EU-funded project focused solely on the Supporter Liaison Officer role. We are delighted to be working with four progressive universities with a track record on delivering best in class education.

“To have COMNEBOL as a project partner also signals the recognition of FSE’s expertise in pushing the development and wide adoption of the SLO function for over a decade now. We are also pleased to have UEFA’s support for this project’s aims, following our continuing partnership via the UEFA Academy where we jointly provide concise and specific training to SLOs through their National Associations.”

Along with FSE, the project partners in TPDS are:

University of Limoges (France)
University of Kassel (Germany)
University of Gdansk (Poland)
University of Malmö (Sweden)
European Observatoire Of Sport & Employment (France)
Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol – COMNEBOL (Paraguay)

Focusing on three countries (France, Sweden and Poland), which are all in varying stages of their SLO development journey, TPDS is geared towards establishing higher education courses specifically focused on the SLO role in partnership with a university in each. The University of Kassel in Germany, which has already created a higher education course centred on SLOs together with the University of Potsdam, will work with its counterpart universities in each country to offer its expertise and experience.

The existing UEFA Academy SLO Education Programme, led in partnership between FSE and UEFA, serves as a springboard for TPDS. The project was designed in response to the demand for the wider implementation of SLOs in European football and works in tandem with the SLO Education Programme by catering for different audiences in varying stages of their supporter liaison journey. The relevant football governing body in each country will also act as associate partners in TPDS to assist with achieving the project’s objectives.

With research and preparatory work already well underway, the project’s next step will be a two-day partners meeting in Frankfurt this October 2023 to be attended by all project partners and additional relevant football stakeholders.

July 31, 2023

ERASMUS+ PROJECT KICK-OFF CONCLUDES AT EFFC 23

The final meeting of SD Europe’s ‘Kick-Off!’ Erasmus+ project took place in Manchester on Friday, 23rd and Saturday, 24th June 2023 during Football Supporters Europe’s European Football Fans Congress, bringing the innovative 30-month project to a close.

July 14, 2023

FSE AND EFDN VISIT ATLETICO SAN LORENZO FOR ERASMUS+ FUNDED SAFER PROJECT PILOT SITE VISIT

During June 2023, Football Supporters Europe (FSE) and the European Football for Development Network (EFDN) visited SAFER project partner Atletico San Lorenzo to gain a deeper understanding of the club’s tailored approach to addressing gender-based violence and discrimination in their community.

April 28, 2023

KICK-OFF! PENULTIMATE MEETING TAKES PLACE IN THE NETHERLANDS

In October 2022, Football Supporters Europe (FSE) and Supporters Direct Europe (SD Europe) merged retaining the FSE name. As a part of the merger commitments, the Kick-Off! Project began by SD Europe, will be completed.

April 19, 2023

GDAŃSK HOSTS SAFER PARTNERS AS RESEARCH PHASES BEGINS

Partners of the Erasmus+ funded SAFER (Support & Awareness for Female fans in European football through Research, prevention, and remedy) met for the first in-person meeting of the project at the University of Gdańsk, Poland earlier this month (14th – 15th April, 2023)

Football Supporters Europe (FSE), as lead partner, were joined by representatives from the Deutscher Fußball-Bund (Germany), the University of Gdańsk (Poland), Atletico San Lorenzo (Italy), Autoridade para a Prevenção e o Combate à Violência no Desporto (Portugal), FanNetværket for Kvinder (Denmark), and the European Football Development Network (Netherlands).

SAFER sees supporters and a cross -section of experts and football stakeholders working together to tackle gender-based violence and discrimination in the game by establishing prevention and remedy mechanisms for football fans and other match attendees.

Over the two days, partners discussed and progressed the initial tasks in the project’s work including the beginning of the research process as well as identifying pilot site football stadiums to focus on. Additionally, they had the opportunity to exchange their experiences and ideas related to the subject matter more generally.

Whilst in Gdańsk, the SAFER project’s dedicated website (saferproject.eu) was launched, which will be at the centre of disseminating the project’s progress and outcomes. A SAFER newsletter is live on the website and can be subscribed to by signing up at the bottom of the homepage.

Mattia Angelini, FSE’s EU Projects Specialist said following the meeting: “Bringing the partners together for the first time and the discussions that took place leaves no questions about the significance and necessity to achieve the aims and objectives SAFER is working towards. The partners come from a broad range of society who all have a stake in tackling gender-based violence in football. It was very encouraging to see the discussions in the room at such an early stage in the project.”

Radoslaw Kassowski, Associate Professor in Sociology at the University of Gdańsk added: “I am delighted that the University of Gdańsk is one of the partners in the SAFER project and that we hosted the first in-person meeting. Our university takes the social responsibility of research very seriously and is keen to be involved in projects that combine research with social engagement. The SAFER project is an excellent example that science and social action can go hand in hand. We spent two intensive, productive days in Gdańsk, and I’m sure that every future project meeting will be the same.”

Following the meeting, the next steps will see the project partners collaboratively decide on the pilot sites that will be the focus of research and remedy and prevention implementation.

The next in-person meeting will see EFDN host the project partners in Breda, Netherlands in early 2024.