Global Football
Community Learners
FIFA Guardians™ Safeguarding in Football Award
What is the FIFA Safeguarding in Football Award?
This Award is a series of five online courses designed to support the work of Safeguarding Officers and other people in football. You will receive an Open University ‘Digital Badge’ for each one of the five courses you successfully complete. The FIFA Guardians Safeguarding in Football Award will be achieved by those who collect all five Digital Badges.
The starting point for this Football Award is Course 1 – the FIFA Guardians Safeguarding Essentials 90-minute course.
FIFA Award
When you complete the full FIFA Guardians Safeguarding in Football Award you will have in-depth knowledge to contribute to creating a safe and supportive environment for everybody in football, especially children. You will understand how to apply your safeguarding responsibilities and how your own values and behaviours can influence safeguarding standards.
If you are from another sport, you can study the Safeguarding in Sport series of three online courses. The content for these is similar to the FIFA Award but has been revised to reflect a more general sport audience.
What will you learn?
At the end of the FIFA Guardians™ Safeguarding in Football Award you will be able to explain, devise and reflect on:
Supporting safeguarding
Strategies to influence and secure the support of individuals within your organisation to promote safeguarding.
Engaging external stakeholders
Methods to engage with external stakeholders and partners to develop an effective safeguarding culture.
Developing policies and procedures
The process of developing and implementing effective safeguarding policies and procedures.
Identifying and managing risks
How to effectively identify and manage safeguarding risks.
Approaches to safeguarding concerns
Approaches to identifying, reporting and managing safeguarding concerns.
Developing professional skills
The development of your professional and transferable skills.
Watch the video below which explains how safeguarding is everybody’s responsibility. It’s up to us!
Course 1
FIFA Guardians™ Safeguarding Essentials
Are you involved in football in a voluntary or paid role either for FIFA, a FIFA Member Association, a club, or as a Safeguarding Officer, a coach, manager, agent, referee, or through another important role such as an Academy Director, Technical Director, physiotherapist or medic? Then this short course is designed to support people like you. The course is divided into three 30-minute sessions for you to study at your own pace.
This course is free and open to everyone. If you want to earn a FIFA Certificate and/or Open University Digital Badges for your learning, you’ll need to enrol by clicking the Get started’ button below.
COURSE 2
FIFA Guardians™ Starting your Safeguarding Journey
Course 2 supports those who are new to their safeguarding role or wish to build on their knowledge. It is approximately 12 hours of online learning. Course 2 explores key safeguarding principles and includes:
- Building support for your early work in safeguarding.
- Assessing and prioritising safeguarding risks.
- Developing your organisation’s safeguarding policy, procedures and guidance.
- Safeguarding reporting and your organisation’s response to concerns
This course is free and open to everyone. It is strongly recommended that you complete Course 1 before starting Course 2 since it builds on the ideas developed in the FIFA Guardians Safeguarding Essentials (Course 1). If you want to earn a FIFA certificate and/or Open University digital badge for your learning, you’ll need to enrol by clicking the ‘Get started’ button below.
COURSE 3
FIFA Guardians™ Developing your Safeguarding Effectiveness
Course 3 continues to build the knowledge of those who are new to their safeguarding role including clarifying recommended ways of working. It is approximately 26 hours of online learning. Course 3 helps you develop your safeguarding effectiveness, exploring key safeguarding working practices and knowledge, and includes:
- How you can influence others.
- Processes, such as developing risk assessments, codes of conduct and policy.
- How to develop your organisation’s approach to safer recruitment and preventing grooming.
- Your evaluation of the organisation’s response to safeguarding concerns and reporting processes.
This course is free and open to everyone. It is strongly recommended that you complete Course 2 before starting Course 3, since it builds on the ideas developed in FIFA Guardians Starting your Safeguarding Journey (Course 2). If you want to earn a FIFA certificate and/or Open University digital badge for your learning, you’ll need to enrol by clicking the ‘Get started’ button below.
COURSE 4
FIFA Guardians™ Embedding Safeguarding Practice
Course 4 continues to extend your knowledge of key safeguarding topics and explains some new principles to help you embed safeguarding practice across your organisation. It is approximately 20 hours of online learning and quizzes. Course 4 helps you develop your safeguarding effectiveness, and:
- Explores personal qualities and how you can support your own self-care.
- Explains the first steps for how to develop safeguarding learning opportunities across your organisation.
- Builds your understanding of safeguarding policy, guidance and processes for competitions and tournaments.
- Enhances your knowledge of managing safeguarding cases.
This course is free and open to everyone. It is strongly recommended that you complete Course 3 before starting Course 4, since it builds on the ideas developed. If you want to earn a FIFA certificate and/or Open University digital badge for your learning, you’ll need to enrol by clicking the ‘Get started’ button below.
COURSE 5
FIFA Guardians™ Promoting Wider Safeguarding Change
Course 5 introduces a new topic, safeguarding in the digital world, and helps you think about how your organisation might learn from safeguarding experiences and develop a positive safeguarding culture. It is approximately 7 hours of online learning and a quiz, which can be completed at your own pace. Course 5 helps you identify organisational strengths and weaknesses, and:
- Recognise some of the specific safeguarding risks in the digital world and start to develop plans to manage these risks.
- Identify how you can support your organisation to learn from safeguarding experiences and to develop a positive safeguarding culture.
This course is free and open to everyone. It is strongly recommended that you complete Course 4 before starting Course 5, since it builds on the ideas developed. If you want to earn a FIFA certificate and/or Open University digital badge for your learning, you’ll need to enrol by clicking the ‘Get started’ button below.
Celebrating your FIFA Award
As you progress towards your overall FIFA Guardians™ Safeguarding in Football Award (five courses) we want to thank you for your efforts in helping make football safer.
Please do celebrate your successes … and never forget to make sure you look after your own welfare while taking care of others.
