SIDFOOT — Community Football Drivers for Social Inclusion

Training a new role, the Community Football Driver, to use football for social inclusion in deprived districts, piloted in four European countries.

SIDFOOT (Community Football Drivers for social inclusion in deprived districts) invested in people more than programmes. It created the role of Community Football Driver: a coach who works in deprived neighbourhoods and uses football deliberately as a route to social inclusion.

The training programme was designed by the University of the Balearic Islands and delivered as a modular e-learning course covering emotional education and values, teamwork, communication and social skills, training methodology, sports planning and child protection. The pilot courses ran in Spain, Romania, Austria and Denmark in 2022, with diplomas presented at the Trainers’ School of the Balearic Islands Football Federation (FFIB) in July that year.

Save the Dream took part as a project partner, working closely with the Real Betis Balompié Foundation, and the other partners, including the University of the Balearic Islands, the European Football for Development Network (EFDN), Fare, Liverpool City Council, Aalborg BK and Wiener Sport-Club. The project closed with a final conference in Seville in December 2022.

Photo: The SIDFOOT working guidelines, published in English and Spanish.

PROJECT FACTS