Social Inclusion of African Athletes in Europe

Background Through the lens of "sport as a human right," this project seeks to promote social inclusion by advocating for and facilitating access to sporting opportunities for all people, including those from disadvantaged backgrounds. Despite the view of sport as an effective means for social mobility and the aspirational narratives associated with it, notably in football, numerous athletes originating from impoverished countries encounter social marginalisation when migrating to their host countries. Objectives The main objective of SiNAFE is to create a support mechanism that is both easily comprehensible and accessible for African migrant athletes. The Project aimed to develop this mechanism to facilitate the social inclusion of African migrant athletes in Europe. This was achieved by developing and implementing new evidence-based instruments that promote the social inclusion of migrant athletes, support athletes’ employability and fill the knowledge gap they need to be successfully included. Implementation During the project a field study report, a multilingual toolkit and an online training module with subtitles in different languages were developed. The activities and results of the project were disseminated through multiplier sport events including fact finding conferences, a round table meeting, a football tournament and a final conference with a football match. The training module is open access and the toolkit and the field study report was uploaded to the web site of the project. Achievements In IO1, a field study report was created, including literature review, document analysis and field research from six different partner countries. In IO2, a toolkit was created, including a summary of the field study, legal guides and policy recommendations for the actors in the field. In IO3, the training program for African migrant athletes was developed to support their employability and raise awareness on issues like human trafficking to protect footballers in vulnerable position.