Awareness raising and education

The first UEFA Child and Youth Protection Summit took place on 17-18 November in Tubize (Belgium), at the Royal Belgian Football Association's (RBFA) new headquarters. Forty-nine UEFA member association’s child and youth protection officers were joined by keynote speakers of the European Commission and the Council of Europe, as well as leading researchers and experts in child and youth protection.

The Gibraltar Football Association, in collaboration with the English Football Association, has produced a series of documents to assist all its stakeholders in developing safeguarding policies, sending the clear message that safeguarding is everyone's responsibility! The Child safeguarding toolkit for UEFA member associations served as guidance in this process. 

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) not only includes the right for children to be protected from violence, it means that children have the right to have their opinions taken into account in matters that affect them, including on the development of child safeguarding measures.

Common Goal and the UEFA Foundation for Children have launched an online course to build capacity in safeguarding among sport for development actors.

The Estonian Football Association (EJL) developed a handbook of guidelines aimed at clubs and people who are active in football on a daily basis, including children and their parents.

The Italian Football Federation (FIGC), UEFA and Terre des Hommes Italy continue their efforts to provide training for the protection of children and adolescents against abuse, violence and discrimination. The UEFA child safeguarding courses are now available in Italian on UEFA's specialised platform.