Kindred and the European Football Development Network (EFDN) further expands their partnership with Kindred becoming the first commercial Community Partner to the network.

The network aims to promote the power of football as a tool for social development. 

Kindred Group are proud to announce the historic partnership with the European Football Development Network (EFDN), with Kindred becoming the very first Community Partner to the network. EFDN is a network of professional football clubs, leagues and FAs all over Europe who are committed to their communities and social responsibilities. The network aims to promote the power of football as a tool for social development. EFDN counts more than 85 members. 

In spring 2019, Kindred sponsored the EFDN programme ‘Active Fans’, and realised that there is a great overlap in values and ways of working between Kindred and the EFDN. Therefore, collaborating even closer on future partnerships is a natural step forward for Kindred.  

Hubert Rovers, CEO of EFDN says: “We are proud to present Kindred as our first commercial Community partner. There is a natural fit between EFDN and Kindred as we both share the love for football and are leaders in our industries in terms of taking responsibility for the community and in contributing to sustainability. Kindred uses a new sustainability-driven framework for sponsorships and promotes community initiatives through its partnerships with clubs and leagues. At EFDN, we strive to raise the quality and impact of community programmes through knowledge exchange and collaboration.    

Together with Kindred, we will further develop the social power of football and will not only promote values like Fair Play and respect, but also education, diversity, social cohesion, and physical activity. Through our partnership, we are certain that we can make a long-term contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and inspire other stakeholders in football to become more sustainable.” 

“We are very proud and excited to be a part of the EFDN network. We feel that the work EFDN do is very important and aligns well with Kindred values. We truly believe that this will be a successful partnership where we will be able to build great things together. For example, we will share our knowledge and experience by developing and implementing an anti-match fixing programme to the extensive network of EFDN member clubs”, says Henrik Tjärnström, CEO, Kindred Group. 

Kindred has a strategic focus of being an active participant in the local communities through activities that equip communities with the knowledge and resources to build a better future. EFDN provides an excellent platform to expand Kindred´s network towards key target groups using the knowledge and resources within the Group. Becoming a Community Partner is clearly aligned with Kindred’s increased focus on contributing to our communities through partnerships, recently evidenced in the commissioning of a report on Men’s Mental Health in the UK.