– An Educational Project funded by the EU Erasmus+ Programme –
Football Makes History brings together history educators and youth workers from all over Europe to develop new educational resources that can help young people explore European history and heritage through the lens of football, as well as use football to tackle social exclusion.
Stories
Browse our collection of stories about football history and inclusion. With the history of football being made up of millions of stories, of individuals and communities, of movements and processes, we offer stories that can inspire our cultural conversations today.
Videos
Get to know untold stories where individuals are making history with football. When faced with insurmountable challenges, individuals past and present can use football as a cultural force to foster positive change in society. We honour these individuals and tell their ‘untold’ stories in short videos.
Educational Resources
Explore our innovative educational resources that use football’s history, heritage and legacy to engage young people. The resources include ready-made lesson plans and historical source collections for school history education as well as toolkit with activities for non-formal settings.
Latest video
Let’s talk football history
Welcome to Football Makes History: let’s talk football history
A new platform to talk about our two favorite subjects combined: football and history. Some of us work in formal (school) education (as teachers or developers of educational resources), others are working outside the school with youngsters. Some of us are football organisations. Most of us are working in, with, around, through football. We initiated a project, and with support of Erasmus+, are working closely together.
A final painted in contrasts
On this day, 12 July 2020, Euro2020 would have reached the final. In 1992 Denmark, which hadn’t qualified, won. While Yugoslavia, a favorite, never made it due to UN sanctions.
Four decades of UEFA Women’s Championships “come home”
Today Wembley would have a Euro 2020 semi-final. Also the UEFA 2021 Women’s Championship is pushed to 2022. A chance to look forwards and backwards.
The last defectors
Today 30 years ago in 1989 three players of the East German football club Wismut Aue were getting ready to escape from the DDR.
Saga of a small nation in a bigger Europe
On this day in 2016, Iceland’s football men lost to France at the European Championship. It ended an amazing run for the team which had not yet reached such heights. This is a story of a small nation in a bigger Europe.
SPECIAL Lockdown Football Stories
Football Lockdowns: Smallpox outbreak in 1972
Football Makes History Developer and history teacher Igor Jovanovic wrote for us about other times when Football was stopped like it currently is. This time it is the Smallpox outbreak in Yugoslavia.
Football Lockdowns: Oil Crises 1956 and 1973
Dutch sport historian Jurryt van de Vooren wrote of other times when Football was stopped, like it currently is. This time it’s oil shortages!
Football Lockdowns: Tilburg (NL) 1951
Dutch sport historian Jurryt van de Vooren wrote a historical overview of other times when Football was stopped, like it currently is. Small story of a local epidemic.
Football Lockdowns: World War Two
Dutch sports historian Jurryt van de Vooren wrote a historical overview of other times when Football was stopped like it currently is. The Second World War is our second short piece.
Football Lockdowns: The Spanish Flu of 1918
Dutch sports historian Jurryt van de Vooren wrote for us about other times when Football was stopped like it currently is. Spanish flu of 1918 is the first story.
Lives
Latest
Nat Lofthouse: The One-Club man
Though a legendary goalscorer, he never earned more than £20 per week. His story is about identity and education.
Discrimination and Social Inclusion
This Toolkit is part of Fare’s #footballpeople campaign, this campaign challenges discrimination and promotes inclusive values and practices.
Educational game about dealing with discrimination
An educational game about dealing with discrimination and confronts young people with their own choices. The players get to react to discrimination and have the choice to either let it happen or do something about it. The game developed by the Anne Frank House is available in several languages.
Refugees
The Fare Network – partner in Football Makes History – believes that sport can play a role in helping to meet some of the challenges faced by newly arriving migrants into Europe and ensure the safe integration of individuals into communities. In the wake of the 2015 migration peak, activists and volunteers across Europe have been involved in supporting refugees, sometimes with the simple act of offering space and friendship to participate in football through grassroots clubs to help newcomers integrate.
Have World Cup Team become more diverse over time?
Researchers of the Sport and Nation Programme at Erasmus University Rotterdam conducted an analysis on 4.761 footballers, derived from the fifteen national teams that competed in at least ten editions of the World Cup between 1930 and 2018, which comprises of 301 foreign-born football players.
Europeana’s Vintage World Cup Photographs
Want to get a visual idea of the history of international football competition? Have a look at this impressive collective from the vaults of European national archives, brought together here by Europeana.
