CORPLAY overall project objective is to enhance the role of sport in preventing youth radicalization, by developing a sport grassroots innovative approach to tackle intolerance, xenophobia and discrimination leading to extremism, while increasing youth participation in sport.
In this context the project aims at understanding the role of sports in both radicalization and deradicalization processes and at arranging learning and awareness tools for grassroots coaches, referees sport managers, physical activity teachers and various stakeholders, while developing a CORPLAY perspective for policy recommendations.

Sport represents an ideal platform to build communities, to raise mutual respect, and to combat racism, discrimination and exclusion. But, as stressed by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) in its researches on racism, discrimination and exclusion in sport, “despite significant progress made in past years, sport continues to face a number of challenges related to racism and ethnic discrimination”.

The effects of racism can be found at grassroots level, not only at professional, and the concern is that at amateur level the awareness about the impacts that intolerance can produce on youth is quite low, because coaches and referees are not trained to monitor youth at risk of deviation and to take the right measures to prevent or counter radicalization processes. So even if sport is one of the most suitable place for social integration, the lack of coaches’ competences in building communities and countering intolerance remains the major constrains to tackle discrimination and reduce risk of radicalization.

Taking into account that Policy makers are increasingly interested in the role of sport in combating racism and discrimination, the project provides a useful framework to explore the rich potential of sport for promoting equality.
On the other side, taking into consideration the need of coaches and referees to improve competences and knowledge about the powerful societal effect of sport, the project offers a new learning model tailored for grassroots sport targets.