Levante UD: Inclusion As A Business Strategy

Football fans come from all walks of life and expect to feel welcomed and represented when they interact with their club. At Levante UD, this approach to inclusivity informs everything that the LaLiga club does.

Valencia-based Levante UD runs 32 different football teams encompassing different age groups, genders and physical abilities.

This not only provides a platform for a wide range of competition. The club defines itself by normalising groups that had previously been marginalised.

Over more than 20 years, an approach has been developed within the club’s foundation to treat all footballers equally. As well as creating sporting success, this has also helped to increase acceptance in wider society.

“For us, the main outcome of playing football is socialisation,” said Vicente Herrero, Director of the Levante UD Foundation. “We have created an environment where both male and female players, with and without physical or intellectual disabilities, are mixing on an almost daily basis. For us it’s a model of not just how a club should run, but a community too.”

Levante UD’s approach to inclusivity can be traced back to 1998 when its women’s team was created. But it did not stop there. One of the cornerstones of the club’s efforts to make football accessible to all has been its Football School for People with Intellectual Disabilities (EDI).

After beginning in 2012, the school has grown in size and is now helping around 150 people fulfil their sporting dreams.

Read the full story in Global Fútbol.