Partners of the EU-funded project iFlipp met for a one-day meeting in Amsterdam, Netherlands on February 18, marking the start of the three-year project.

The iFlipp project, which stands for Innovating Football Leadership through Practice and Policy, will seek to assess recent research in the representation of women and ethnic minorities (WEM) in leadership positions in football in order to develop responsive inclusive leadership governance action plan at National and European levels.

The aim of the project, which is funded by the Erasmus Plus programme of the European Union, is to increase and enhance 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.



The project will look to achieve its goals of supporting inclusive leadership practices and promoting equal opportunities and good governance in football by creating a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) and producing European policy and action recommendations based on a co-created common position in a manifesto, endorsed by football stakeholders, to ultimately build capacity among and promote peer learning by/for emerging WEM leaders in football through the creation and nurturing of an enhanced network.

The projected is co-ordinated the Fare Network (NED), with six partner organisations including DiscoverFootball (GER), 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.



At the project’s intensive kick-off meeting in Amsterdam, partner organisations were introduced before the aims and objectives of the project were discussed.

Attendees then went through the intellectual outputs of the project, discussing action plans, brainstorming ideas and identifying roles and responsibilities of each organisation.



The multiplier sports events making up the project were then discussed, before operational matters and the next steps were proposed ahead of the conclusion of the meeting.

In the coming months, both partner organisations Malta Football Association and Portugal Football Association will hold national roundtable discussions as part of the project ahead of the next iFlipp meeting scheduled for September, at a venue still to be confirmed.