Is Football Moving Towards Sustainable Mobility?
Forget the European Union or Eurovision, few things bring Europeans closer than football. Millions of fans descended on Germany this past month for the 17th edition of UEFA’s European championships. As an environmentalist, it can probably be considered the greenest ever.
As the world heats up, it can often feel like football’s governing bodies and teams are on a different planet. Former UEFA President Michel Platini defended his decision to host the 2021 Euros in 11 different countries as a “romantic” one-off event to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the competition. There’s nothing more romantic than polluting the planet. The next FIFA World Cup will be played out across the whole of North America.
With this in mind, Euro 2024 was a relative success. Subsidised rail travel and group stage matches clustered regionally meant that more fans travelled by train than ever before.
But in a tournament where young superstars were born (Yamal) and others faded away (Cristiano Ronaldo), we look to these icons to show an example. How did the teams perform in terms of sustainability?
There were some notable successes. The host German team was ready to clean up their travel footprint and managed to avoid flying for all their matches in the group stage, reducing a total of 97% of their emissions.
Even more exciting was Switzerland. The Swiss team was a real leader, taking 5 of 6 trips to the 3 matches by train. Moreover, they not only led the way with the Germans during the group stage, but also travelled to get to Germany by train, making their emissions reduction even more noteworthy.
Romania stood out for travelling by train for 4 of 6 trips to its matches, ranking third on the sustainable travel podium, followed by Poland that took the train twice, and Belgium that did it once.
Indeed, UEFA tried to facilitate this shift from plane to train with its sustainability plan, which was successful in some cases. However, these incentives did not seem to be enough to convince other teams, which turned a deaf ear.
On the podium for least sustainable teams we find the English team, whose trips included a flight lasting only 28 minutes. England is followed by Spain and Turkey, the latter taking a flight lasting only 25 minutes. Such short flights are especially galling, when there are other teams and so many fans making an effort to reduce the emissions associated with their travel.
Yes, it can often feel like football’s governing bodies and teams are on a different planet and that the UEFA efforts have not been enough. However it has proved to be a first step, as leading football teams are rewriting what is considered normal when moving from one football match to another. Take German football hero Niclas Füllkrug who travelled on his own by train instead of by plane – to the delight of his fellow travelers.
The Women’s European Championships 2025 will take place next year in Switzerland, whose geographic centrality lays the perfect ground to continue on this sustainable pathway, and make it even better.
Will the women best the men for the greenest tournament ever? And will UEFA ensure that this year’s tournament becomes a benchmark for organising future championships?
Erin Vera, Travel Smart Campaign Manager