Support for grassroots initiatives + amateur associations

Since the fairplay initiative was founded in 1997, some important progress has been made in the fight against racism and discrimination in football, but discriminatory actions and behaviour have by no means disappeared from stadiums and sports grounds.

15 years of the fairplay project pool made possible by tipp3

People are openly insulted, discriminated against or even excluded from sport. This happens at both professional and amateur level, as well as at smaller clubs. For this reason, the fairplay initiative and tipp3 decided to set up a project pool in 2009 to enable committed people and groups to become active against racism, discrimination, homophobia and sexism as well as for human rights and to support those affected in football. In order to facilitate the organisation of such events and activities inside and outside stadiums and sports grounds, financial support can be applied for from fairplay. Once the application for support has been processed, submitted projects can be supported with up to 400 euros.

Over the past 15 years, more than 250 projects have been supported by tipp3.

Disclaimer: As tipp3 takes youth protection regulations very seriously, the project pool made possible by tipp3 can only support activities in the adult sector. Due to its strong roots in domestic football, tipp3 currently only supports activities in connection with football and with a venue in Austria in this project pool.

Further support options for initiatives

Due to the legal restrictions of tipp3, we try to support requests for support in the area of children and youth and in other sports through funding within the framework of other projects of the fairplay initiative. The project should fit into at least one of the four areas of work: Anti-discrimination / Sport and social inclusion / Sport, development and human rights / fairplay prevention - contact point against anti-human ideologies.

You can find an overview of the current activities of the fairplay initiative in the news section and in the project overview on our website.The monthly fairplay newsletter provides regular information about our projects, activities and opportunities for support.You can sign up for the newsletter here.The fairplay initiative is also happy to support you in the planning of projects and events, in public relations work (e.g. Facebook, Instagram, X, Linkedin) and also provides information and campaign material. If no financial help is required, we look forward to hearing about your ideas, initiatives and activities and reporting on them on our homepage or on our social media channels.

 

Focus 2024: 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and human rights in sport

A key topic area is "Sport, development and human rights". This topic has been widely discussed in public and in the media in the wake of major sporting events being awarded to countries such as Brazil, Russia, Qatar and China. With regard to the topics of "development & human rights", we have also been focussing on the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for some time, which explicitly refer to the role of sport in social progress when they were adopted in the 2030 Agenda declaration.

In 2024, the fairplay initiative is carrying out two projects in the area of sport, sustainable development and human rights. Our Game for Human Rights is entering its final third project year, and a follow-up project has been successfully applied for for Rebels of Change, which was implemented in 2022-2023 together with Südwind and other cooperation partners. Both projects are co-financed by the Austrian Development Cooperation (ADA).

Examples of SDGs that are relevant from the perspective of sport are:

• SDG 1 (no poverty)
• SDG 3 (health)
• SDG 5 (gender equality)
• SDG 10 (less inequality)
• SDG 12 (responsible consumption)
• SDG 13 (Climate action)
• SDG 16 (Peace and Justice)
• SDG 17 (partnerships to achieve the goals)

A campaign on the topic of human rights could, for example, focus on "sport and gender" in the sense of gender equality, draw attention to the observance of human/children's or women's rights, or organise a campaign together with a development policy organisation or human rights initiative.

 

Criteria

Of course, we hope that we can support all projects submitted. To make it easier for you to plan your activities and for us to select applications, please note the following requirements and criteria:

• The online form must be completed.
• The project must be related to at least one of the fairplay work areas and topics.
• Your project is based on the idea of partnerships and the involvement of grassroots organisations (fan groups, NGOs, amateur clubs, etc.).
• Target group for the tipp3 project pool: only football + adults over 18!
• Possibility of support for activities in the children and youth sector and in other sports depending on the ongoing fairplay projects and other funding bodies.
• The activities take place in Austria.

 

What can you do?

We have put together a few tips and hints for you here on what actions and activities you can plan and carry out. The ideas come from groups (fans, clubs, migrant organisations) from all over Europe. But please don't feel restricted by this. If you have other ideas and projects, we would be delighted to hear/read about them.

• Activities on match days
• tournaments
• Film evenings and discussions
• Flyers, posters, banners, choreos
• Social media testimonials
• Online banner
• Announcement/report of campaign on the homepage/social media
• Press release/newsletter
• Articles on SDGs or similar in own media/publications
• Interviews on the campaign or topic
• Banners, e.g. "For global fair play", "No place for discrimination" etc. (6x1 metres; can also be provided by fairplay)
• Stadium announcement by the ground announcer
• SDG footballs or beach volleyballs (can be provided by fairplay)
• Photo/social media documentation
• fairplay workshops for young people
• Information stand with local NGO with fairplay campaign material (SDG football, posters, stickers, etc).
• and and and ...

The range of activities we can support is huge! It includes the production of campaign materials (banners, flyers, fanzines, posters, stickers, etc.), the staging of fan choreographies as well as the organisation of stadium actions and community days and football or sports-related intercultural events, such as special matches, discussions or tournaments with an explicit anti-discrimination or human rights agenda.

We provide you with the current fairplay project pool logo, other project logos as well as banners and other fairplay information material. Please contact us for additional subjects, texts or photos.

Applying for support

To apply for financial support, simply complete and submit the relevant online form. Please briefly describe your planned activities or events and what you need and want to use the financial support for. We will then get in touch with you and discuss everything else.

Publicity and visibility

It should be clearly visible that the activity is part of the fairplay project pool against discrimination or takes place within the framework of current projects of the fairplay initiative. This is possible by using our banners, the fairplay project pool logo and other subjects on the materials, mentioning the support of the fairplay initiative project pool in mailings and on homepages, etc.

We are also happy to share your social media pages that relate to the project. Collaboration posts are even better!

You can find the fairplay initiative on Facebook, Instagram, X, TikTok and LinkedIn.

For our media work and to update the activities on the fairplay website, we rely on you to provide us with the latest details of the campaign (please briefly describe who is organising what, when and where). Please send us all materials already produced as soon as possible.

Report

As support from the fairplay project pool does not constitute sponsorship, a report and a statement of accounts are required from your side! Please document your activities, take photos of your tournaments, banners, fan choreographies etc. and send them to us in the fairplay project pool. Please take photos of your tournaments, banners, fan choreographies, etc. and send them to us in high resolution, tag us on social media, etc. Some photos will then appear on the fairplay homepage or Facebook/Instagram - please also indicate the copyright if applicable and ensure that these may be published on our channels - third-party media.

Please also send/email us copies of newspaper articles, internet reports, radio programmes and videos about your action. After completion of your project, we would also ask you to send us specimen copies of the materials produced (fanzines, flyers, leaflets, stickers, posters etc.). You do not need to send us heavy or permanently mounted items (such as banners etc.), photos will suffice. However, we would like to receive not only posed photos with our banner, but also atmospheric pictures, photos + videos of the action itself.