One of the first objectives has been to create a roadmap of initiatives and practices in the field of football and refugees in recent years, which identifies main issues, good practices and major needs. Also included are the conceptual discussions of relevant terms and ideas that concern this topic. This roadmap will soon be available on the FIRE project’s website that will be launched in the next few weeks!
Another major item of discussion was the national conferences that are to be held in Glasgow, Bucharest, Brussels and Madrid between September 2019-2020. Beyond promoting FIRE’s activities, these events are the occasion for project partners to learn and debate with participants about their experiences and know-how when it comes to elaborating and implementing initiatives and programmes that seek to include refugees, migrants and asylum-seekers through the use of football. This information will serve to guide and complete the content of the MOOC- the project’s ultimate goal. As a reminder, the MOOC will be freely available online and aimed at grassroots football clubs and organisations who wish to be active in the inclusion of refugees, migrants and asylum-seekers, and that can benefit from a helping hand on how to do so and what to look out for. This first steering committee dedicated a lot of brainpower to defining the skills and knowledge MOOC users need to acquire, alongside different activities to do so.