The Football For All Leadership Programme delivered 12 free online webinars over two months, covering a wide range of topics such as stadium accessibility, equal opportunity employment, inclusive education and participation in disability sport.

The programme aims to support disabled people in achieving their dreams of working within the sporting sector, encouraging change and wider awareness within sport of the important roles that disabled people can play.

Over 635 people tuned in to the webinar series, from 55 different countries across 5 continents, as they heard from 38 experts from NGOs, charities, governing bodies, football clubs, football foundations, former players and paralympic athletes. 

Speaking on the success of this latest webinar series, Football For All Leadership Programme Chief Association Executive José Soares said:

“By organising the Football for All Talks we aimed to provide awareness and to generate some key discussion moments towards the best pathways to establish a more inclusive sports environment”.

Each webinar was recorded and subsequently captioned, and made available to watch back on-demand.

The first talk, "How can a stadium be accessible to disabled fans?", featured CAFE's Managing Director Joanna Deagle, as well as AFL Architects Senior Associate Rita Ochoa, and Matt McCann, CEO of Access Earth.

Episode 2: “How are European football clubs working to become more disabled friendly? – Inclusive practices in European Football” took place on Monday 12 October, moderated by CAFE Project Manager Jochen Kemmer, with Celtic FC Disability Access Officer Alexis Dobbin and Bradford City Disability Officer Jaimie Dorward. 

Watch episode 3 "The Future of Disabled Football" featuring Liverpool FC Foundation Inclusion Manager Terri Ritchie, Stuart Sharp ENT Technical & Grassroots Director at US Soccer, International Blind Sports Association Project Coordinator David Stirton and President of the European Powerchair Football Association Donal Bryne.

FIFA Diversity & Accessibility Manager Hala Ousta joined us for episode 4 “How is FIFA working to make football more accessible and inclusive?”.

Episode 5: “How can Inclusion be an open door for Innovation – A talk with innovators for inclusion” - Cathy Pearl (Design Manager at Google), Sarah Reinertsen (Paralympian and Athlete & Influencer Marketing Senior Manager at Nike), Miguel Neiva (Founder of Color ADD & Ashoka Fellow), and Peter & Kate Shippey (Founders of The Shippey Campaign).

Extra episode: "Disability inclusive employment" with Liz Johnson (Paralympian, Founder of The Ability People), Daniel Wiles (Training and Consultancy Manager, Leonard Cheshire), Paul McNeill (Head of Community Development, Scottish FA), Joana Cal (Director of Operations, Integrated Dreams) and moderator Jochen Kemmer (Project Manager, CAFE).

Episode 6: “How are other sports promoting Inclusion” - Victoria Austin (CEO at Global Disability Innovation Hub), and Miroslaw Krogulec (Sports Director at Special Olympics Europe/Eurasia).

Episode 7: “How can we bring disabled peoples’ issues to the forefront of the conversation in sport and beyond?” - Eli Wolff (Paralympian, Director of the Power of Sport Lab, Founder of the Royce Sport and Society Fellowship at Brown University and Lecturer at University of Connecticut), Joyce Cook (FIFA Chief Social Responsibility and Education Officer), Jess Markt (International Committee of the Red Cross Disability Sport and Inclusion Advisor) and Kush Kanodia (Disability & BAME Rights Campaigner & Award Winning Social Entrepreneur Visionary Leader of the unprecedented #NoWheelchairTax NHS Campaign). 

Episode 8:“How has the Football For All Leadership Programme (FFALP) contributed to your journey – a conversation with past participants working in different fields” - Eduardo Maia (Assistant at the Health and Performance Unit at Portuguese FA and 2018 FFALP participant), Kieran Burns (Founder of the All About Ability Podcast and 2019 FFALP participant), and Thomas Hosier (Founder of INjoy Sport and 2018 FFALP participant).

Bonus International Day of Disabled People Episode 1: "Perspectives on disability - a talk between a disabled fan and a top football player" with Alexey Smertin (Russian Football Official and former player) and Elena Popova (DAO at the Russian Football Union). 

Bonus International Day of Disabled People Episode 2: "Road to Tokyo: the expectations of top athletes for the next Paralympic Games" with Gael Riviere (Blind football player, Paralympic Silver Medalist London 2012 - France), Moran Samuel (Para-rower, Paralympic Bronze Medalist Rio 2016 - Israel) and Daniel Chan Ho Yuen (Para-badminton player, World number 2 - Hong Kong). 

Bonus International Day of Disabled People Episode 3: "The right way to improve access and inclusion" with Diego Garcia Diego (Director General Fundacion Getafe C.F.), Rachael Lomax (DAO / Access Advisor at Everton FC), Nuno Costa (Executive Secretary at Fundacao Benfica) and Wim Beelaert (DAO and Coordinator at KAA Gent Foundation).

For further information, please visit the Integrated Dreams website.

Published 15/12/2020