The conference, hosted by the Chelsea Foundation at Stamford Bridge, brought together football clubs, county FAs and industry experts across sports and policy to discuss the prevalence of antisemitism in football, as well as the role football can play in combatting antisemitism in the game and wider society. Also in attendance were a number of delegates from German clubs across the Bundesliga, to provide further context and perspective from Germany and Europe more widely.

Chelsea FC director and chair of the Chelsea Foundation, Lord Daniel Finkelstein opened the conference, thanking Lord John Mann for his unwavering efforts in combatting antisemitism and reaffirming Chelsea FC and the Chelsea Foundation’s commitment to leading the way in the fight against antisemitism, on and off the pitch.

The conference featured a number of panel discussions covering many different key areas concerning antisemitism and football. The first panel, hosted by Kick It Out CEO Tony Burnett, covered grassroots antisemitism and the importance of reporting incidents along with Ashley Lerner, CEO of Maccabi GB, and Dal Darroch, head of diversity and inclusion strategic partnerships at the FA.

The second panel, chaired by Chris Paouros, vice-chair and trustee of Kick It Out and co-chair and co-founder of Proud Lilywhites (the official Tottenham Hotspur LGBTQ+ supporters' association) saw representatives from Jewish supporter groups across the Premier League and Championship highlighting the importance of fan engagement when supporting Jewish fans.

The penultimate session, led by Gabriella Wilkinson, head of campaigns at the Chelsea Foundation, was an interactive workshop featuring representatives from clubs across English and European football, highlighting and sharing methods of good practice when combatting antisemitism. Daniel Lorcher, founder of the What Matters project and spokesperson for Dortmund FC spoke to the importance of utilising clubs’ large social media platforms and following to share educational messaging and campaigns on targeting antisemitism.

Hannah Mansour, director of ESG and Arsenal FC referenced the importance of adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition on antisemitism and then imposing bans on those individuals found guilty of antisemitism, an approach shared by Dave Messenger, EDI Lead at Watford FC.

The final session was hosted by Catherine Smith, head of supporter relations at Chelsea FC, and looked at the importance of reporting incidents of antisemitism. Catherine was joined by Dave Rich, director of policy at the Community Security Trust, and Hollie Varney, COO of Kick It Out. Both Dave and Hollie spoke to the work their organisations are doing to collect and centralise data on antisemitic incidents within football, with the aim of getting a stronger picture on the state of play regarding antisemitism in the UK.

Lord John Mann closed the conference, thanking all speakers and partners Chelsea Foundation and Kick It Out for their time and efforts to use football as a force for good.