Many young people in Europe are confronted with discrimination, a lack of opportunities for education or employment and other barriers to social integration. The struggle against these circumstances can lead to a rise in anti-social behaviour and exacerbate divides within communities. Organisations across Europe such as those profiled here are tackling a cycle of discontent and exclusion with a simple tool: football.

Some streetfootballworld network members focus on bringing young people from different cultural backgrounds together in order to help them accept one another as equals. Others concentrate on empowering individuals, using football to help them build self-confidence and translate the skills and values they learn on the pitch—hard work, respect, tolerance and communication—into success in further education or employment. For all organisations, the sport is a versatile tool that serves not only as an initial attraction for young people, but also as the basis for personal and community development. Although they focus on different challenges related to social integration, these organisations share important characteristics.

The featured organisations all bring the game to participants by locating training sessions and tournaments within the communities that need them most and providing them free of charge. Disadvantaged areas often lack safe, stable places to play; a football-based programme focused on social integration tends to be welcomed as a rare opportunity to participate in sports. Football tournaments publicly celebrate and reinforce the achievements of young people while bringing both participants and fans from diverse backgrounds together.

These successful football-based programmes strive to ensure that both males and females participate and recognise each other as peers. The significance of encouraging both genders to see each other as equals both on and off the pitch should not be underestimated, especially in programmes that focus on social integration.

The organisations also acknowledge the importance of providing role models to young people; whether coaches, peers or beloved public figures, these individuals make the concepts behind social integration more acceptable and understandable. Many of today’s star athletes come from difficult backgrounds; their success shows young people that integration—whether of a whole community or of a single individual—is indeed possible. The streetfootballworld network members featured here also go one step further, working to help young people become role models themselves.

At the root of every approach is the use of a familiar setting—the football pitch—to make young people feel more comfortable with unfamiliar situations. New encounters, whether with individuals from different cultural backgrounds or with one’s own personal potential, are made possible and sustainable by basing them on an established, positive experience that also serves as a common language. Whether in Sarajevo or Dublin, Lyon or London, football is the shared passion that unites young people and enables them to overcome their social challenges together.

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