The United Kingdom’s Chelsea Foundation will co-host a one-day global conference on how soccer can help fight anti-Semitism in the sporting world and in society.
The conference is set to take place at a soccer stadium in Vienna on Nov. 11 in partnership with the Jewish Community of Vienna; the International Coalition for Combating Antisemitism; and the Office of Lord Mann, the British government’s independent adviser on anti-Semitism.
Policy and sports experts worldwide will engage in panel discussions about “the prevalence of anti-Semitism” in soccer among fans and the sport’s role in fighting discrimination. Speakers will include members from the Austrian government, European Commission, UNESCO, and the European soccer clubs Chelsea and Borussia Dortmund.
Speakers slated to attend are Karoline Edtstadler, Austrian federal minister for the European Union and the Constitution; Katharina von Schnurbein, European Commission coordinator on combating anti-Semitism; Kathrin Meyer, secretary-general of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance; Gabriela Ramos, assistant director-general for the social and human sciences of UNESCO; and Lee Igel, a clinical professor at New York University’s Tisch Institute for Global Sport.
Chelsea FC chairman Bruce Buck said he hopes the conference “continues to elevate the conversation about the dangerous rise of anti-Semitism in society and the important role football can play in combating it.”
