Delegates from Tottenham Hotspur, Fulham, Manchester City, the EFL, the Premier League and the FA were among those who took part in the journey.
The four-day educational experience saw 250 participants from across the UK travel to Poland to bear witness to the atrocities committed during the Holocaust, where six million Jewish people, and five million others from persecuted groups, were systematically murdered by the Nazi regime.
The trip began in Warsaw, where participants learnt about life in the ghettos, how Jews were starved, beaten, and eventually made to 'resettle to the East', a euphemism for being sent to concentration and death camps.
It also included a tour of Majdanek concentration camp, which gave participants the chance to see firsthand the Jewish experience of life and death in the camp. The suffering was only further emphasised by the visit to Zbylitowska Góra forest, where the worst of crimes against humanity occurred, and participants were invited to light a candle and take part in a memorial prayer for the 800 children who perished in this forest.
The third day of the trip was spent mostly in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camps. Participants walked up the emblematic train tracks and through the gates to bear witness to the atrocities that occurred. They would return the following day, the day of Yom HaShoah, the Jewish day to commemorate the Holocaust, to walk where they walked. The 3km stretch between Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II; the March of the Living.
This was a powerful moment shared with 7,500 people from across the world who were all there for one reason - to memorialise those who perished and to inspire others to fight against indifference, racism, and injustice, and to foster a stronger commitment to the Jewish people.
Throughout the trip, the football bus was privileged to hear the testimonies of three Holocaust survivors; Martin Stern MBE, Barbara Frankiss and Eva Clarke BEM. Hearing their testimonies first-hand was extremely moving for those attending.
Dal Darroch, Head of Diversity & Inclusion Strategic Programmes at The FA, said: "It was an honour to attend this year’s March of the Living on behalf of The FA in the important 80th anniversary year since the Holocaust. It was a very sombre and moving experience that will live with me forever.
"Antisemitism and other forms of discrimination have no place in football or society, we’ve taken action to address this and continue to focus on delivering a game free from discrimination wherever we can. I learned so much from this trip, saw the effects of hate first-hand and to march alongside and speak to survivors was a privilege. Our work continues."
Ben Sweiry, from Maccabi GB, said: "Having grown up as a proud Jew and learning the stories of the Holocaust, as well as through our educational work through Maccabi GB, the Office of Lord Mann and with Kick It Out, I thought I knew what to expect coming into the trip.
"However, I now truly believe that until you see, hear and witness firsthand the crimes committed and everything that the victims went through, it is very difficult to understand and comprehend. It was truly an experience that I will take with me in everything I do, and one that I am very grateful to have had."
