Goodsport Foundation runs a night‑time football programme at over one hundred locations across Sweden. The initiative offers free use of indoor sports halls to young people aged 13 to 25 on Friday evenings, and in some municipalities also on Saturdays, from 19:00 until midnight.

How the programme works

The model is built on cooperation between the charity, local football clubs and municipal authorities. Community volunteers act as mentors, monitoring the venue and building relationships with participants. In several towns security personnel and police officers are present to maintain safety, although supervision remains informal rather than police‑led.

Patrik Asplund, chief executive of Goodsport, developed the concept after visiting Charlton Athletic in England, where a similar Sunday football project was funded by police. He recalled his own experience in extremist and criminal environments and said, "I thought, damn, that's not such a bad idea." The idea was to fill the gap left when most indoor arenas in Stockholm close at 21:30, a period when at‑risk youths are otherwise on the streets.

Impact on crime

Goodsport reports that the programme is associated with measurable crime reductions. In Östergötland police recorded a 49 % decline in reported offences during the programme’s operating hours between 2015 and 2016. In Hageby, Norrköping, reported crime fell by 46 % during the same time slots in the following year. Officials note that a direct causal link cannot be definitively proven, but the correlation is viewed positively.

Issa Saliba, who coordinates the night‑time sessions in Västerort, a north‑east district of Stockholm, says the aim is to improve safety and provide a communal space for youth. He explains, "We aren't trying to recruit them to play competitively. It's just about making the area where we operate safer and bringing the local youth together under one umbrella." Saliba also reports a sharp drop in vandalism of the sports hall since the night‑time football began.

Participants and summer version

Typical attendance on a night is about fifty participants, roughly half of whom are classified as at‑risk. Many are out of school, unemployed or have left formal education, increasing their vulnerability to illegal activities. A summer version called Grimsta Games was introduced in 2022. Running from 24 June to 7 August, Monday to Friday, it attracts approximately 350 children aged eight to fifteen each day.

Fourteen‑year‑old Mikael Nasel and participant Salmal Hersi say the extra sessions allow them to meet peers from other neighbourhoods and develop their football skills. Hersi describes football as a form of rehabilitation that improves his mood regardless of his emotional state, while Nasel says that without the programme he would likely have spent his evenings at home.

Recognition, funding and future plans

The Swedish royal family honoured Goodsport for its social contribution in 2019. A three‑year funding package exceeding €27 million was allocated to support night‑time football and comparable projects, aligning with the European Union’s Youth Guarantee and Action Plan on Youth Crime, which stress preventive, community‑based interventions.

Critics argue that sport alone cannot solve youth disengagement and that education, housing and employment measures are also required. Goodsport acknowledges this and is investigating collaborations with schools to facilitate participants’ return to formal education.

The organisation intends to expand night‑time football to additional Stockholm districts and to pilot the model in Gothenburg and Malmö, presenting the programme as a template that could be adapted by other European cities.