EUSA Year Magazine 2023-2024

INNOVATING FOOTBALL

LEADERSHIP THROUGH PRACTICE

AND POLICY (IFLIPP)

The Innovation Football Leadership through Practice and Policy projects

seeks to assess recent research on the representation of women and ethnic

minorities (WEM) in leadership positions in football to develop a responsive

inclusive leadership governance action plan at National and European levels.

The three-year project started
in 2020, aiming to enhance the
leadership skills of women and
ethnic minorities in football
by creating and piloting a
set of inclusive professional
development training materials,
transferable and adaptable for
sport organisations.

In the beginning of 2023, on
7 th and 8th March, the partners
gathered for a hybrid meeting
on 7th and 8th of March, hosted
by the European University
Sports Association (EUSA) and
the EUSA Institute in Ljubljana,
Slovenia.

This meeting was concentrated
on the monitoring and evaluation
process of the work done within
the project, the financial status
of the project, as well as on the
promotion of Intellectual Output
3 – the MOOC. At the end,
the partners exchanged ideas
about the realisation of future
intellectuals’ output, the Online
Communication Platform, and
the Policy Recommendations.

Just after the partners meeting,

from 8-11 of March, EUSA

organised a training programme

in Ljubljana, gathering 40

participants, professionals,

and leaders in the world of

football and sports in general,

specifically for women and

ethnic minorities. The goal of

this training was to provide

the participants with the

opportunity to learn more about

leadership, network building,

developing strategy, joining

boards, and building personal

brands. Different people

took the floor to discuss the

significance of gender equality

in football and the management

roles of a Football Association.

After the outputs of different

speakers, the participants had

to elaborate by group their

organisational or personal

development strategies. Finally,

different testimonies of athletes

were shared, speaking about

different types of racism and

their approach to the challenges

they faced.

The conclusion of the Innovating

Football Leadership: Innovation

through Practice and Policy

(iFlipp) project took place on

June 15th and 16th in Lisbon,

Portugal, as part of FARE

Network’s Equality and Inclusion

in Football Conference.

The conference brought

together 140 individuals from

13 countries, representing

various NGOs, organizations,

and clubs. Over the two

days and 15 sessions, the

aim was to contribute to the

attendees’ expertise and work

collaboratively to combat

inequality in football and use the

sport as a tool for social change,

including addressing different

forms of discrimination,

including racism, sexism,

transphobia, and homophobia.

On the topic of glass ceilings

and how we can overcome

them, 3 experts engaged in

a panel discussion, including

Jacco Van Sterkenberg

from Erasmus University of

Rotterdam, presenting the data

from the iFlipp project, as well

as best practices and strategy

policies on how to increase

and change representations of

women in leadership positions,

as well as how to tackle

discrimination in football and

generally in sport.

The project is led by the

Fare Network (NED), with six

partner organisations including

Integrated Dreams (POR),

Erasmus University Rotterdam

(NED), Portugal Football

Association (POR), Malta

Football Association (MAL)

and the EUSA Institute (SLO),

with the support of Europe’s

football governing UEFA as well.

The partners welcomed a new

project partner Hawar Help,

who replaced Discover Football

(GER). The project is co-funded

by Erasmus+ Programme of the

European Union.

EUROPEAN UNIVERSITY SPORTS ASSOCIATION YEAR MAGAZINE 2023-24^124

6. EU INITIATIVES

PLEASE SEE

http://www.eusa.eu/projects/iflipp

for more information

Co-funded by the

Erasmus+ Programme

of the European Union