Loughborough University to Lead StepChange 2026: Strengthening Safeguarding and Player Welfare in Elite Football Pathways

Elite football academies can shape the lives of young athletes, offering professional opportunities, world-class training and experiences that few other careers can match. Yet the same environments that produce tomorrow’s stars can also expose children and young people to intense pressure, uncertainty, power imbalances and safeguarding risks. Addressing that reality is the central purpose of StepChange 2026: From Paper to Pitch, a free five-day online safeguarding event led by researchers at Loughborough University in the UK and running from 16–20 November 2026.

Timed to coincide with International Children’s Day, the event will bring together athletes, survivors, safeguarding specialists and football organisations from around the world to examine how player welfare can move beyond written policy and become part of everyday practice. More than 40 speakers from national and international bodies, including FIFA and The Football Association (The FA), will contribute their expertise across the week.

Registration for StepChange 2026 is free and open to anyone with an interest in safeguarding, player welfare and elite sport. Secure your place early to access the full programme of sessions.

Why Safeguarding in Elite Football Pathways Demands Global Attention

Few sporting environments are as demanding as an elite football academy. Children may be identified as talented at a very young age and asked to commit hours of training each week, relocate for opportunities, and navigate selection systems that decide their futures. For every player who signs a professional contract, many others are released — often with limited support — after years of investment in their development.

This combination of high stakes, adult control and young participants creates conditions in which safeguarding concerns can arise or go unrecognised. Research into player safety and welfare has repeatedly shown that environments characterised by pressure and power imbalance need robust, proactive systems of care rather than reactive policies filed away after an incident.

The title of the event — From Paper to Pitch — captures the challenge precisely. Many football organisations now have safeguarding policies in place, but the gap between what is written and what happens on the training pitch, in the changing room and in the relationship between coach and player remains the critical test.

What StepChange 2026 Offers Participants

StepChange 2026 is organised by the Project StepChange team at Loughborough University, whose ongoing research examines player safety and welfare in football academies. The event is deliberately structured to be practical and accessible:

• Free online access: The five-day series takes place entirely online, removing travel barriers for participants across the UK and internationally.
• Over 40 speakers: Contributors include representatives from FIFA, The FA and other national and international football organisations, alongside researchers, practitioners, athletes and survivors.
• A focus on practice: Sessions are designed to explore concrete approaches to recognising and preventing safeguarding concerns within elite football academies, not simply to restate policy commitments.
• Broad relevance: While football is the focus, the themes — player care, prevention, organisational accountability and lived experience — apply across youth and elite sport.

Organisers have designed the programme around the realities of academy life: the daily interactions, cultural norms and organisational pressures that determine whether young athletes feel safe, valued and supported.

The Research Foundation: Loughborough University’s Role in Player Welfare

The event is led by the Project StepChange team at Loughborough University’s School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences, under the direction of Professor Daniel Rhind, Professor of Sport Psychology. The team’s research examines how sporting environments can be structured to promote the safety, wellbeing and healthy development of young athletes.

This evidence base matters. Safeguarding initiatives are most effective when they are grounded in rigorous research about what actually protects children in sport — and when they draw directly on the experiences of those who have lived through both good and harmful environments. By pairing academic expertise with contributions from governing bodies, practitioners and survivors, StepChange 2026 aims to bridge the persistent divide between research, policy and day-to-day practice.

Core Themes Shaping the StepChange 2026 Programme

Sessions across the week are organised around five interconnected themes, each addressing a distinct dimension of player welfare in elite football.

Player Care and Prevention

Prevention sits at the heart of effective safeguarding. Sessions on player care will explore how academies can build cultures in which young athletes are treated as children first and players second — where workload, education, mental health and family involvement are managed alongside technical development. Participants can expect discussion of practical tools for assessing the quality of care environments and identifying early warning signs before concerns escalate.

Responding to Safeguarding Concerns

Even in well-run organisations, concerns will arise. How clubs, leagues and governing bodies respond determines whether harm is contained or compounded. Sessions in this strand will examine reporting routes, escalation procedures and the support provided to those who raise concerns, with an emphasis on building systems that young people and their families trust.

The Role of Member Associations

Safeguarding cannot rest on individual clubs alone. Member Associations play a pivotal role in setting standards, providing education, monitoring compliance and offering independent support structures. Contributors from national and international federations will discuss how associations can equip their member clubs — from professional academies to grassroots settings — with the knowledge and resources to keep children safe.

Safeguarding in Women’s and Girls’ Football

The rapid growth of women’s and girls’ football has created new opportunities — and new safeguarding considerations. Dedicated sessions will address the specific contexts in which girls and women participate, from talent pathways and residential programmes to the cultural dynamics that can affect how concerns are raised and handled.

Listening to Lived Experience: The Survivor Panel

One of the most significant elements of the programme is a dedicated survivor panel. This session provides a structured space for participants to listen to lived experiences and reflect on what those perspectives reveal about the realities of safeguarding in elite sport. Survivor contributions will directly inform wider conversations about how football organisations can create safer environments for all participants — a reminder that behind every policy document are real people whose experiences should shape reform.

Who Should Attend and What They Will Gain

StepChange 2026 is open to anyone with an interest in safeguarding and player welfare, but several groups will find it particularly valuable:

• Academy staff and coaches seeking practical approaches to building safe, supportive training environments.
• Designated safeguarding officers and welfare leads looking to strengthen prevention, reporting and response practices.
• Parents and carers of young players who want to understand what good safeguarding looks like and what questions to ask.
• Researchers and students in sport psychology, sport policy and youth development who wish to engage with leading work in the field.
• Administrators and policy professionals within clubs, leagues, associations and federations responsible for governance and player care.

If you work within a club, academy or governing body, consider registering as a team so that colleagues can compare notes after each session and translate learning into your own setting.

Practical Steps Organisations Can Take Now

While the event offers a dedicated forum for learning, organisations do not need to wait until November to strengthen their safeguarding practice. Drawing on the themes of the programme, here are four actions academies and clubs can begin immediately:

1. Audit the gap between policy and practice. Review your written safeguarding policies, then assess honestly whether daily routines — coach behaviour, communication styles, workload management — reflect them.
2. Create accessible reporting routes for young people. Children should know exactly whom to speak to and should feel safe doing so. Age-appropriate communication and independent contacts both help.
3. Involve players and families in decision-making. Power imbalances diminish when young athletes and their parents have genuine channels to contribute feedback about their experiences.
4. Invest in ongoing education. Safeguarding training should be continuous, scenario-based and relevant to the realities of elite pathways, not a one-off induction box to tick.

Have questions about implementing any of these steps, or about the event programme itself? The organising team welcomes enquiries from clubs, practitioners and researchers ahead of the event.

Registration Details and How to Participate

Registration for StepChange 2026: From Paper to Pitch is completely free. The event runs online from Monday 16 to Friday 20 November 2026, allowing participants to join individual sessions around work and study commitments. Full programme details, speaker announcements and registration information are available via the official event website.

For those inspired to study safeguarding, sport psychology and athlete welfare in greater depth, Loughborough University’s School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences offers undergraduate and postgraduate programmes taught by researchers at the forefront of this field. Explore the University’s study options to learn how academic training can support a career in player care, sport development or research.

The Wider Significance: Building Safer Pathways for the Next Generation

The value of events such as StepChange 2026 lies in their refusal to treat safeguarding as a compliance exercise. By convening governing bodies, researchers, practitioners, survivors and athletes in the same forum, Loughborough University is helping to ensure that the conversation about elite football pathways centres on the children within them.

For anyone involved in youth or elite sport — in football or beyond — the event represents a genuine opportunity to learn from leading expertise and lived experience, and to return to their own organisations with practical, evidence-informed ideas. Register your place today, encourage colleagues to join you, and be part of the effort to turn safeguarding commitments into everyday reality on the pitch.

Found this article useful? Share it with colleagues in your club or organisation, and explore our related articles on youth sport welfare and athlete development for further reading.