This weekend the Israel FA and Israfans worked together to host the next stage of the European supporters project ‘Fans Matter!’ in Tel Aviv at the Ramat Gan Stadium.
‘Fans Matter!’, organised by the European supporters organisation SD Europe of whom Israfans is a member, aims to improve the capacity and professional management of member-run football clubs and supporter organisations that are involved in the management of clubs, particularly on the non-elite – lower league and amateur level.
This weekend hosted in Tel Aviv, training began for fans involved in member-run football clubs and supporters groups who are involved, or want to be involved, in the running of their football clubs. The key areas of football club management, stakeholder management, volunteer management and membership management are the focus of the training.
The sessions which made up the event were led by Tsahi Ben Yosef, Chair of Hapoel Ramat Gan Givatayn Basketball Club, and Eitan Perry, former Hapoel Jerusalem FC Board Member.
Along with Israfans and the Israel FA, 12 football clubs attended the event.
This stage of the project will see the information and best practice curated by industry experts taught and transferred by the national trainers to fans to help them strengthen and grow their football clubs and supporters groups.
Following the event, Israfans Chair Shay Golub said “We are very pleased with how the event went. This Fans Matter! meeting began the process of sharing information curated by industry experts with clubs and supporters groups to aid them in improving their capacity building and professional organisation. It was also extremely encouraging to have clubs from outside of Israfans’ network attend.”
Eitan Dotan,Head of Fan Relations at the Israel Football Association said "The conference we held today was fruitful and enriching. Community is one of the most important things in building a successful football club. The meaning and possible contribution of each club to its community is enormous and has countless directions. And to SD Europe, which gave the association the opportunity to be part of this important project, as well as the representatives of the groups that came”.