Empathy FC

Empathy FC is a team for all; a team of changemakers working to make

football a place where everyone belongs.

Be a Part of the Movement

Let's make empathy a core skill of women's football.

Let's contribute to the good of all as a team.

By signing up below, you're stepping onto the field with Empathy FC - ready to learn, contribute, and grow this movement together.

Join Empathy FC

Empathy FC Campaign

Empathy in football can look like a coach pausing to ask a young girl why she no longer feels safe on the pitch — and redesigning training sessions to rebuild trust and belonging.

It can look like a club boardroom where women’s voices are not tokenised, but truly heard and acted upon.
It can look like male allies using their influence to challenge sexist behaviour in changing rooms and online spaces.
It can look like facilities designed with everyone in mind — from gender-neutral changing areas to community hubs where families, carers, and fans feel welcome.

In partnership with BAK Creative Agency, we are proud to launch the Empathy FC campaign and begin co-creating a decision-making guide that puts empathy at the center of sport—featuring the powerful voices of female football leaders across Wales.

Activities

Ashoka, in partnership with Team Cymru and the Football Association of Wales, and with support from the Welsh Government’s EURO 2025 Partner Support Fund, is helping to create a more gender-equitable Cymru through football.

Youth Hackathons

Hosted three Young Changemaker Hackathons in partnership with Start Something Good to identify solutions to gender equity challenges facing girls and women across Wales — from addressing infrastructure gaps to embedding empathy into decision-making structures. The hackathons and resulting reports were led and produced by Martin Downes and the team at Cwmpas Start Something Good.

Youth hackathon Reports:

St. Gallen's Women's Euros 2025 Hackathon: Highlights the ideas and solutions of more than 20 young changemakers, culminating in a pitch to the UEFA Human Rights Leadership Panel.
Changemakers in Sport Social Hackathons: Features ideas and solutions for building empathy across the Welsh sport landscape and reimagining what truly gender-equitable spaces can look like, delivered in partnership with Wrexham University and Cardiff Metropolitan University.

St. Gallen's Women's Euros 2025 Hackathon Changemakers in Sport Social Hackathons

Gender Equity Accelerator

Participants from across the UK and Europe advanced gender equity in Welsh football through a three-part systems change journey, co-creating a blueprint to transform the structures, mindsets, and power dynamics that sustain inequities. This Blueprint:

Clarifies how the current “system of kindness” is broken - and how its gaps uphold exclusion and harassment in football.
Positions empathy as a central solution in how we design, govern, and deliver football experiences.
Demonstrates how Wales can lead in advancing gender equity in and through football.
Offers a model for countries seeking to embed empathy and kindness across sport systems.

Shaping the Cymru UEFA Women's Euro 2025 Legacy