A two-day event starting this weekend in Vienna will celebrate the tenth anniversary of UEFA's partner FARE – the Football Against Racism in Europe network.

Football for Equality
FARE activities at UEFA club and national team competitions help to consolidate the European governing body's zero-tolerance policy towards racism and discrimination, and UEFA will be represented at the two-day Football for Equality conference in the Austrian capital on 13 and 14 December.

Birthday
More than 100 fans, activists and NGO representatives will congregate at the Franz Horr Stadium – home of FK Austria Wien – as the FARE network marks key achievements since its formation in Vienna in 1999. As well as being a birthday party, the conference will look forward to new challenges with workshops focusing on various areas of discrimination within the game.

'Looking back and forward'
Kurt Wachter, from local FARE member group FairPlay-vidc, said the event – subtitled 'Challenging Racism and Homophobia' – was an opportunity "to look back at some [successes] but also to new challenges, such as the programme of work toward the [UEFA] European Championship in Poland and Ukraine and how to take the next step in challenging homophobia".

UEFA platform
FARE's role in tackling racism at all levels of professional and amateur football has seen its membership grow to a presence in 40 countries. In addition to monitoring activities in domestic football, FARE is able to transmit the anti-racism message through the high-profile platforms of the UEFA European Championship, UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. A recent example of this collaboration was UEFA's contribution to the FARE Action Week with activities at European club games in October.

Media
UEFA, the Austrian Football Association and the Austrian Football League will also be represented among the speakers at a FARE media reception at SK Rapid Wien's Gerhard Hanappi Stadium on the evening of 13 December. Interested journalists are asked to register in advance by contacting Elisabeth Kotvojs on 0043 1 7133594 97 or via kotvojs@vidc.org. The Football for Equality conference is supported by UEFA, the European Commission and the City of Vienna. For further details visit FAREnet.org (four languages) or FairPlay.or.at (German only).