Are you the next community champion of Europe? Would you like the perfect stage upon which to prove this? Then EFDN offers the project that you will want to get involved in. The Community Champions League is a social street football competition organised locally in different European countries, where the participating teams can win more points through Fair-Play, Fair Support and Volunteering in community activities than by just winning their street football matches.

Chelsea FC, Club Brugge, SV Werder Bremen, NAC Breda, Feyenoord, Aberdeen FC,  Vålerenga Fotball, Ferencvarosi TC and SL Benfica deliver the Pan-European programme in collaboration with EFDN. If your club wants to create its own Community Champions League, EFDN will support you with a free, club-specific Community Champions League logo, your own dedicated website and the opportunity to participate in the European Community Champions League Festival in 2021.

The Community Champions League: Draft programme guide is also available for download on our website. We can also provide you with guidance and further information. Please contact us by sending an email to info@efdn.org

With the aim of promoting social integration through sport, the Community Champions League provides the opportunity for people from different cultures to come together to build relationships and friendships while breaking down barriers through the prevention of violence, racism and intolerance in grassroots sports and their communities.

Recently,  on the 3rd and 4th of December, the nine clubs came together for the 3rd Community Champions League project meeting in Budapest. The participating clubs shared their first experiences, talked about challenges, discussed the finances and started to prepare the multiplier event in 2021.

EFDN interviewed some project managers and community coaches and asked: What makes the Community Champions League a special programme?

ABERDEEN FC COMMUNITY TRUST

“The Community Champions League is really special because it has brought together and introduced two parts of Aberdeen to each other. Two different communities that are at opposite ends, that probably wouldn’t meet, probably wouldn’t come together without the project. Children, staffs and schools from opposite sides are besides each other and are all working with a football club”.

WERDER BREMEN

“For us, it’s a great opportunity to involve kids from different backgrounds, from different ages and we want to bring together females and males. It’s about fair play, about coming together in the community, supporting each other and creating good values behind the Community Champions League, to create something special and motivate people. It’s also about bringing forward your personality and participants are supporting one another”.

FEYENOORD FOUNDATION

“The Community Champions League is a way of getting kids to participate in sports and to give something back to our own community. We use football to reach that goal and to motivate children”.

CHELSEA FC FOUNDATION 

“Because of the issues that we have in London, in different areas which see issues with gangs, the Community Champions League programme is an opportunity to change the perception of the young people and get them to interact with people from different areas.  It is also a great platform for young people who come from deprived areas, to play in matches, since the price to play football in London is expensive. So it gives them the opportunity to play competitive football and to learn about the city”.

NAC BREDA

“We have been organising our own NAC Street League for over 10 years right now and for us, the Community Champions League project is an opportunity to share knowledge, which we have required in the last 10 years to help other clubs start their own Community Champions League. For us, it’s the perfect tool to help children and change their behaviour through football”.

CLUB BRUGGE FOUNDATION

“The Community Champions League is for us a way to really get inside of the city by using the power of football as a tool to connect people from different areas or people within the same areas who don’t have a natural connection with each other. We can be the linking factor using football to teach respect and all the social values that are learned while playing in a team”.