English Premier League soccer club Chelsea announced Wednesday that it was launching a new campaign to raise awareness and educate players, staff, fans and the wider community about anti-Semitism in sports.
Chelsea F.C. said it will officially launch the "Say No to Anti-Semitism" campaign on Jan. 31, at its Premier League game against AFC Bournemouth.
The launch will take place just days after the world marks International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Jan. 27.
The current initiative, which is supported by club owner Roman Abramovich, is part of the Chelsea Foundation's ongoing Building Bridges campaign.
Launched in 2010, Building Bridges seeks to "promote equality, celebrate diversity and make everyone feel valued throughout our club, stadium and wider community," the team's website states.
The steering committee that developed the current initiative is headed by Chelsea Chairman Bruce Buck, and includes World Jewish Congress President Ronald Lauder and VP Robert Singer, Vice Chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations Malcolm Hoenlein, Anti-Defamation League Director Jonathan Greenblatt, and Member of European Parliament Cecilia Wikstrom, who heads its working group against anti-Semitism.
Other committee members include Britain's Holocaust Educational Trust VP Karen Pollock; Abigail Morris, executive director of the Jewish Museum in London; Dave Rich, head of the Policy for Community Security Trust charity; and former London Mayor Lord Peter Levene.
This is not the first time Chelsea F.C. has taken a strong stance against anti-Semitism.
In September it ordered its fans to stop singing a song about striker Alvaro Morata over its anti-Semitic lyrics.
The chant references Chelsea fans' loathing of the Tottenham Hotspur Football Club and features an offensive term to describe Jewish people that they use as a derogatory alternative name for the north London club.
