{"summary":"Chelsea Foundation has a long and proud history of creating industry-leading equality, diversity and inclusion programmes. ","body":"

Tens of thousands of young people across our communities take part in education programmes around racism and discrimination, as well as celebrating diversity in our club and our communities.

In March 2021 we launched No To Hate, which is a club-wide equality, diversity and inclusion programme aiming to educate our club, communities and the wider football industry, and be a leading force in the fight against all forms of hate, including racism, homophobia, sexism and religious intolerance.

No To Hate has three clear objectives:

target abuse
celebrate our history and community
change the culture of the game

We have targeted abuse with:

Say No To Antisemitism

Our work combatting antisemitism forms one of the key pillars of the No To Hate campaign: promoting religious tolerance. This has included a commemorative service and commissioned mural to pay homage to the life and legacy of three football personalities who were sent to Nazi camps during the Second World War - Julius Hirsch, Árpád Weisz and Ron Jones.

To promote education on tackling antisemitism in football, we have hosted workshops for key industry stakeholders, as well as an expert conference in collaboration with the Office of Lord John Mann (UK Government advisor on antisemitism) and Kick it Out.

We celebrate our history and community through:

Pride/Rainbow Laces

We continually work to establish our commitment to allyship and advocacy under the banner of our LGBTQ+ equality campaign – Whoever You May Be. This messaging was taken from an iconic fan chant and reworked to highlight our commitment to championing the many identities throughout the Chelsea family.

We proudly displayed this messaging during our annual presence at the London Pride parade, in collaboration with our LGBTQ+ supporters’ group Chelsea Pride.

Furthermore, we continue to champion the LGBTQ+ Chelsea community through our Rainbow Laces campaigns; in 2023 commissioning the LGBT Poet Laureate Trudy Howson to write a poem about Chelsea’s commitment to celebrating and championing our diverse fanbase.

For previous Rainbow Laces campaigns, we partnered with Football v Homophobia to conduct workshops for our Academy and employees to learn more about the community and what role we have to play in football. We have also produced numerous campaign videos which speak to the feelings of our players and fanbase on equality, whoever you may be.

Open Iftar

We were proud to be the first Premier League stadium to host an Open Iftar with Ramadan Tent Project, welcoming our local community to celebrate the Ramadan period by breaking fast together besides the pitch at Stamford Bridge.

With speeches from a range of leaders, including a call to prayer by an imam from a local mosque, the Iftar marked our continued support for our Muslim community, provided a safe space for mutual dialogue and engagement, and highlighted that the Bridge is a welcoming space for all.

Jewish Supporters Group

Launched on Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year), helping to establish Chelsea Football Club’s Jewish Supporters Group has deepened our work promoting religious tolerance and celebrating the different religions which comprise the Chelsea family.

Black History Month

For 2022's Black History Month, we worked with artist Zem Clarke to extend the This is Us project, celebrating Chelsea’s Black players throughout history. Zem’s artwork was launched at a No To Hate event later in the month in the Canoville Suite, in partnership with the Black Collective of Media in Sport (BCOMS), to celebrate black content creators working across the game and enable creators to network with club representatives, partners and external organisations.

In 2023, during Black History Month we launched our year-long campaign Making History Everyday, designed to celebrate Black leaders, trailblazers and changemakers in the Chelsea community throughout the entire year.

Throughout that October, Chelsea Foundation delivered complementary Making History Everyday workshops to nearly 1000 participants across schools and wider communities, celebrating the journeys and successes of Black pioneers in the Chelsea community.

International Women’s Day

On International Women’s Day 2023, Chelsea Foundation launched a new initiative which offers 5000 young girls their first experience of football.

The commitment was unveiled at a Nothing Stops Us event at Kingsmeadow where 400 local school girls participated in fun football activities and workshops at the stadium.

This was the largest commitment of its kind ever made by a football club, solidifying Chelsea as an industry leader in guiding girls on their pathways into football.

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