Participation in the decision-making processes of football (fan) organisations

Nowadays, the participation of young people (18 to 25 years of age) in the governance of football (fan) organisations is limited.

The Erasmus+ project Future of Football (FOF) aims to increase that participation by developing a toolkit. Partners of the project are football fan associations from England, Germany, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and Tunisia. One of the obstacles these associations face, is the lack of a (well-thought-out) strategic approach focused on increasing youth’s participation in football (fan) organisations.

The central assumption within FOF is that the more the toolkit is in line with the opinions and needs of young people, the more successful it can be put into practice by the FOF partners in their respective countries.

The central research question within this report is as follows: How can a toolkit, focused on increasing the participation of young people in the governance of football (fan) organisations, be aligned with their relevant opinions and needs?

Reading guide
Hereafter, this report consists of five chapters. Chapter 2 and 3 are about the barriers and enablers that young people perceive. Chapter 4 concerns good practices they experienced to get themselves and other young people involved in the governance of football (fan) organisations. In chapter 5, the authors identify how the barriers, enablers, and good practices are related to the ones they identified in the literature scan and comparative country analysis that we conducted in the context of the FOF project. In chapter 6, the authors will answer the central research question. In this chapter, they will describe suggestions for how a toolkit focused on increasing the participation of young people in the governance of football (fan) organisations can be aligned with their relevant opinions and needs.