ROGE 25 - Raising Our Game Europe 2025

R.O.G.E. 25 Raising Our Game Europe 2025 There is an urgent need to work with football labour unions across Europe to respond to the multifaceted injustices professional women footballers experience, exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic. Terminated contracts, remuneration, inconsistent health insurance, absence of basic worker protections and rights, and strains on their holistic health are amongst the pressures confronting female players. The women’s game in Europe has seen significant growth in the past decade, yet a deep-rooted legacy of gender discrimination still translates to a lack of opportunities for women to enter and remain in the field as professionals. The Covid-19 pandemic provides an opportunity for football unions to support female players and together lead a movement towards a more just football. In an industry that has long downplayed the voice of female players, there is an opportunity and responsibility at hand. Within this project FIFPRO Europe will develop the tools and resources that are essential and currently lacking to support players’ associations to promote equal opportunities, access and inclusion for female players. FIFPRO Europe will carry out this project with 7 partner unions (Slovenia, Cyprus, France, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Denmark) and 5 affiliate unions (Scotland, Greece, England, Spain, Sweden). We will work together through capacity building and action research workshops with female players to develop a 3-part toolkit on sustaining players’ unions work in women’s football, guiding female players in social dialogue, and movement building for social change. It is our hope that athletes and unions across sports across the EU will be able to draw on the resources and momentum developed in this project. We believe in the impact of this work to contribute to greater intersectional movement building for labour justice and human rights across women’s sports and across societies at this critical moment in time.