StepChange 2026
From paper to pitch
16–20 November 2026 | Online | Free to attend
Across the week, StepChange 2026: from paper to pitch will bring together expert insight, lived experience, young voices, international perspectives and practical discussion to explore how safeguarding and player care can be strengthened across the elite player pathway in football.
From research to safer football pathways
StepChange 2026: from paper to pitch is designed for football organisations, academies, safeguarding leads, player care professionals, researchers and practitioners who want to better understand how safeguarding can be embedded across elite and performance football environments.
The programme will explore safeguarding and player care across academy settings, member association responsibilities, proactive protection, response to concerns, women and girls’ football, survivor voice and young people’s experiences.
Each day includes two focused one-hour online sessions, creating space for expert-led insight, shared learning and practical reflection across different roles, contexts and football environments.
Programme at a glance
Monday 16 November
Safeguarding, player care and survivor voice
Tuesday 17 November
Member associations and young voices in football
Wednesday 18 November
Proactive protection and women and girls’ football
Thursday 19 November
Responding to safeguarding concerns and Portuguese-language session
Friday 20 November
Spanish-language session and promoting player care in academies
Monday 16 November
The importance of safeguarding and player care in football academies
This opening session will explore why safeguarding and player care are essential to safe, healthy and effective football academy environments.
The session will consider the responsibilities of academies, clubs and wider football systems in supporting young players, recognising risk and creating cultures where safety, wellbeing and development are treated as central to the player pathway.
14:00–15:00 UK time
Survivors’ voice – building trauma informed best practice
This session will centre survivor voice and lived experience, exploring what football and safeguarding systems need to understand from those who have experienced harm.
It will consider how listening, accountability and trauma-informed practice can help shape safer responses, stronger systems and more meaningful change across football environments.
15:00–16:00 UK time
Tuesday 17 November
The role of Member Associations in supporting safeguarding and player care in academies
This session will explore the role of Member Associations in supporting, guiding and strengthening safeguarding and player care across academy football.
It will consider how national and regional football bodies can help set expectations, build capacity, support implementation and encourage more consistent safeguarding practice across the elite player pathway.
14:00–15:00 UK time
Young voices in football, exploring their needs and their experiences
This session will create space to consider the experiences, perspectives and needs of young people in football.
It will explore how young players can be meaningfully listened to, how their views can inform safeguarding and player care, and how football environments can better support their rights, wellbeing and development.
15:00–16:00 UK time
Wednesday 18 November
Proactive protection within football academies
This session will focus on proactive approaches to protecting young players within football academy environments.
It will explore how academies can move beyond reactive safeguarding responses by identifying risks earlier, strengthening everyday practice, building trusted relationships and embedding safeguarding into the culture of player development.
14:00–15:00 UK time / UTC
Women and girls’ football
This session will explore safeguarding and player care considerations in women and girls’ football, recognising the specific experiences, barriers and opportunities within female player pathways.
It will consider how safeguarding approaches can respond to the realities of women and girls’ participation, development and progression in football, while supporting safer and more inclusive environments.
15:00–16:00 UK time / UTC
Thursday 19 November
How to respond to safeguarding concerns in academies
This session will examine how football academies can respond safely, clearly and consistently when safeguarding concerns are raised.
It will consider reporting routes, roles and responsibilities, trauma-informed responses, escalation, communication and the importance of building systems that young players, families and staff can trust.
14:00–15:00 UK time
Delivered in Portuguese
This Portuguese-language session will support wider access to StepChange 2026: from paper to pitch and create space for safeguarding and player care discussion across Portuguese-speaking football contexts.
Further details, including the session focus and contributors, will be announced soon.
15:00–16:00 UK time
Friday 20 November
Delivered in Spanish
This Spanish-language session will support wider access to StepChange 2026: from paper to pitch and create space for safeguarding and player care discussion across Spanish-speaking football contexts.
Further details, including the session focus and contributors, will be announced soon.
14:00–15:00 UK time
Promoting player care within academies
The closing session will focus on how player care can be promoted and embedded within football academy environments.
It will consider how safeguarding, wellbeing, development and support can work together to create safer pathways for young players, and how learning from the event series can be taken forward into practice.
15:00–16:00 UK time
More than a programme
StepChange 2026: from paper to pitch is not just a series of online sessions.
It is an opportunity to connect research, policy, practice and lived football environments. Across the week, participants will be invited to reflect on what safeguarding and player care mean in their own context, and how football can strengthen safer systems, cultures and experiences for young players.
The event will also support continued learning beyond the live sessions, with recordings and materials available through Safe Sport Connect.
Join us 16th to 20th November
Project StepChange: from paper to pitch is a free online event series for people and organisations committed to safer football pathways.
16–20 November 2026 | Online | Free to attend