On World Children’s Day, 20 November 2023, UEFA published its Competition-specific Child and Youth Protection Guidelines.
Football competitions include larger number of children and young people at different levels. Adults may need to take children to a different venue and location, sometimes for an overnight stay, sometimes involving activities that are different than their regular programme. Competitions can take place with other groups or companies and sometimes involving adults who may not be used to working with children and young people or lack the knowledge on how to protect them. These circumstances can give rise to risks related to child and youth protection.
UEFA developed competition-specific guidelines and highlighted steps to make sure children and young people participating in football activities are safe while they enjoy themselves. The guidance aims to support national associations and clubs in this endeavour.
These guidelines set out competition-specific child and youth protection guidance for event organisers, event child safeguarding leads and/or child and youth protection officers when staging competitions and/or events with the participation of children and young people. The document represents a further step in strengthening the protection of children and youth participating in football. They are informed by internal and external consultation between April 2022 and May 2023 and complement the UEFA Child and Youth Protection Policy and Toolkit.
The large number of appendixes can be used as samples or templates and the guidance as a reference point.
It is to be considered a living document that creates space for further discussion and contextualisation. For any questions, please contact childsafeguarding@uefa.ch.