Benefits of Community-Driven Sport Spaces

• To help organizations design or strengthen their own inclusive, community based soccer spaces.
• To support communication with stakeholders about how and why inclusive soccer spaces can deliver positive social impact.
• For organizations considering the comprehensive range of benefits delivered by community-driven approaches.
• To inform policy makers and infrastructure partners on the importance of equity-focused design when creating spaces to play soccer.

The resource provides an inspiring account of how sport spaces extend beyond play to become platforms for systemic change, supporting gender equity, racial justice, mental health, and environmental sustainability. It is both a guide for organizations working to deliver more places to play, and a communication tool for them to engage communities and partners about what is possible.

• How might you adapt the approaches in this resource for the particular community context in which you work? 
• Do you have the skills within your team to deliver on these principles and work towards these benefits? If not, how can you up-skill your team? 
• Do you have the right range of relationships and partners in place to successfully deliver on this model? Who’s missing and how can you engage them?
• How can you assess your progress against these benefits to ensure you’re constantly improving and able to communicate your impact?
• love.fútbol are very keen to gather feedback on how their approach can support people working in their own communities on soccer spaces. If you use this resource, please do consider sharing your feedback either with Soccer Forward or the love.fútbol team.

love.fútbol is a global nonprofit that partners with communities to reimagine and reclaim their own sports spaces. Their Community-Driven™ model ensures spaces are co-created, owned, and sustained by local communities, fostering belonging, safety, and opportunity for generations.