EFC and EA SPORTS FC award three €100,000 Symbol of Change grants to Club Brugge Shakhtar and Samsunspor

European Football Clubs (EFC), backed by EA SPORTS FC, has named three recipients of its 2026 Symbol of Change Grants, awarding €100,000 each to community initiatives run by Samsunspor, Club Brugge Foundation and Shakhtar Social.EFC said the grants sit within its multi-year partnership with EA SPORTS FC, which is designed to fund club-led programmes and strengthen links between clubs and their local communities.Charlie Marshall, EFC chief executive, said: “The Symbol of Change Grants are about celebrating the clubs that are using football’s platform to make a real difference in people’s lives.“Through our partnership with EA SPORTS FC, we are empowering clubs to think creatively about how they can serve their communities and deliver lasting impact. Samsunspor, Club Brugge Foundation and Shakhtar Social represent three powerful examples of how football can drive progress.”Samsunspor’s “Purple Jersey Project” will use the funding to expand work tackling violence against women and promoting gender equality in Türkiye, combining psychological support for survivors of domestic violence, gender-equality education within the club’s academy and self-defence training for women and girls.Zeycan Rochelle Yildirim, Samsunspor’s chief marketing officer, said: “Receiving the Grant means so much to everyone at Samsunspor who has poured their heart into this project.“This year, we will reach 3,000 people directly — from girls stepping onto a pitch for the first time, to academy boys learning that equality is something you build from the beginning. This grant means we get to keep building it.”Club Brugge Foundation was selected for its “Football Community Builders” programme, a 12-month structure designed to help volunteer-led grassroots clubs launch their own social responsibility initiatives through tools, training and tailored guidance, including mobile activations and on-site sessions.Peter Gheysen, Club Brugge’s public affairs and sustainability director, said: “Football has an extraordinary power. Across Europe, professional clubs have been using that power for years to positively impact thousands of lives through a wide range of community programmes.”Gheysen added: “As professional football organisations, we have a responsibility to support local clubs in discovering and developing social initiatives that reflect their identity, scale and reality.”Shakhtar Social’s winning project, “LingoBall”, combines football training with gamified English learning for children aged 7-12, using motion-tracking and interactive exercises embedded in drills as part of the club’s youth programmes.Andriy Babeshko, director of Shakhtar Social, said: “LingoBall combines football, technology, and English learning, making education a natural part of every training session.”Babeshko added: “Our mission is to equip Ukrainian children not only with athletic skills, but with the tools they need for a confident future.”EFC said the three projects were presented at its Club Connect event in Lisbon on March 25, with the programme intended to recognise measurable, club-led social impact at community level across Europe.James Salmon, senior director of partnership marketing at EA SPORTS FC, said: “The Symbol of Change Grants are about unlocking the potential that football clubs have to drive meaningful change in their communities.”