Football Supporters Europe (FSE), the European Football for Development Network (EFDN), and Danske Fodboldfans (DFF) visited Danish Superliga club FC Midtjylland for a pilot site visit of the Erasmus+ funded SAFER project during March 2024.
The occasion was the third pilot site visit to a football club since the project began last year. It was conducted during the club’s home fixture versus Vejle BK. FSE and project partners have previously visited Benfica and Italian grassroots club Atletico San Lorenzo.
The purpose of this visit was to develop a greater understanding of FC Midtjylland’s current approach to spectator safety for female supporters. The learnings from the visit will feed into planning the football club’s future project activities.
The partner delegation met with the football club’s Experience Manager and Supporter Liaison Officer (SLO) pre-match to discuss SAFER’s aims and understand how matchday operations and security are managed. The group was also invited to FC Midtjylland’s supporters club where they were able to discuss the project with a group of female supporters. Finally, FSE and project partners also observed the search procedure into the stadium as took place during the visit to Benfica.
FSE’s EU Projects Specialist, Mattia Angelini, said: “The Pilot Site visit to FC Midtjylland was very beneficial in contributing to the project’s aims. We observed the organisational process of their match from a safety perspective and were able to gather invaluable information, both from their staff and their fans, to inform the project’s activities and work together to improve the safety conditions for female fans in the future.”
Following this third pilot site visit, FSE will work with the project partners to plan FC Midtjylland’s next activities. Further pilot site visits will also be conducted in the coming months.
FSE would like to thank FC Midtjylland for its cooperation and hospitality during the visit.
View the SAFER project’s timeline here.