Best Practices for Community-Driven Sport Spaces
love.fútbol
Summary
This guide summarizes love.fútbol’s 20 years of experience establishing 100+ sports spaces across five continents. It introduces their Community-Driven™ methodology, embedding community engagement and sustainability at every phase of the project—from site identification to activation and long-term stewardship. The document provides actionable best practices on asset mapping, community engagement, partnership feasibility, sustainable design, and ongoing activation of soccer spaces.
HOW & WHEN IT CAN HELP
- As a blueprint for organizations designing new community soccer spaces.
- For municipalities or NGOs seeking to integrate community-led design into soccer infrastructure projects.
- As training material for staff and volunteers in inclusive, community-driven development practices.
- To evaluate the feasibility and sustainability of soccer space initiatives.
WHAT WE LIKE ABOUT THIS RESOURCE
The guide emphasizes authentic community ownership, embedding sustainability from day one, and prioritizing trust-building and human connection as central to success.
IMPORTANT CONSIDERATIONS RELATED TO THIS RESOURCE
- What mechanisms can you use to ensure authentic community ownership of your soccer space?
- What planning do you have in place, or can you develop, that will help ensure sustainability fo your space beyond the initial build?
- How can you monitor and evaluate the quality of the ongoing relationship the community has with your soccer facility?
- 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.
ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTOR
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.
CREDITING CONTRIBUTORS
The Resource Hub is made possible by the generosity of contributors. It demonstrates the rich expertise and collective team spirit that exists across our soccer community.
All resources that have been contributed to the Resource Hub are free for users of the Hub to learn from, adapt and implement in their own organization and community.
Where relevant, we encourage users of the resources to formally or informally credit the resource creator, to acknowledge their expertise and generosity.