The Role of the Game: Sustainability of Football. Beyond Recycled Footballs

Sustainability in Sports

In today’s blog, we’ll be discussing a specific role the sports industry and what sports associations and clubs are doing to improve the sustainability of their industry.

Sports might not be the most obvious industry to look toward when considering sustainability, but a changing climate has a large impact on the sports world, and there are multiple opportunities for the industry itself to become more sustainable. 

To meet the moment, zero-waste stadiums and carbon-neutral events are popping up across the world. What impact can these initiatives hope to achieve? With major tournaments like the UEFA Women’s EURO 2025 aiming to raise the bar on green standards, the future of sports is looking both competitive and climate-conscious.

🌱 Innovations in sustainable stadium design and operations 

Stadiums are one of the most visible aspects of sports because they are necessary for teams to play in, and even if fans are not attending live, the arena is all over TV screens. 

In the United States, one of the first teams to gain LEED certification for its sustainable stadium was the Washington Nationals due to many factors, ranging from stormwater management to transit accessibility. 

Major tournaments like the Olympics raise the bar for stadiums around the world.

🌍 The role of major tournaments in setting global standards

Millions of people tune in to watch events like the EURO, meaning they provide ample opportunity to bring sustainable practices into the mainstream for people who might not otherwise be thinking about sustainability. 

If events that require thousands of moving pieces can run sustainably while providing refreshments at venues to shuttling players around the world, it proves that sustainable options are legitimate. 

The Paris Olympics offer a glimpse of this. The Olympic Village was powered by renewables, built using sustainable materials, and athletes slept on bed frames made of cardboard. With a huge platform on the global stage, a sustainable Olympics shows fans that these options do not automatically equal uncomfortable or unreliable, which are common tropes used to avoid change. 

Learning from this, the 2025 Women’s EURO aimed to showcase sustainability, with teams travelling via train to matches, and fans are encouraged to walk to various key points via “fan walks.” The rising temperatures were ever-present across matches, making the connection between a changing climate and sports painfully apparent.

The Union of European Football Associations has its own Sustainability Strategy, which encompasses climate goals for teams across the association, like mitigating the effects of soccer playing on the natural environment.

⚡ How athletes and teams are becoming climate ambassadors 

Athletes can inspire movements on their own, with often global fan bases, and there are a few examples of soccer players leaning into their platform to highlight sustainability. 

One example is Morten Thorsby, who runs We Play Green, which helps bring sustainability to the forefront of soccer. Morten highlights issues from reusable kits to the environmental drawbacks of turf soccer fields across Norway.

But one person can only do so much, and luckily, there is a trend of entire teams committing to climate action. One example is Manchester City, a team committed to Net Zero strategies and implementing upgrades like renewable energy at stadiums, and utilizing local produce at events. Eintracht Frankfurt is another team encouraging sustainable practices like EV fleets for shuttling players and intelligent irrigation systems to save water when watering fields. 

Looking to the future 

Europe is implementing sustainable goals across industries, and the sports industry is no different, especially when it comes to circularity in clothing. 

Currently, around 60% of kits at the end of the season either end up in the landfill or are incinerated. The movement to create shirts made out of recycled polyester, typically from plastic water bottles, is a good step. But that would not solve the disposal issue. 

When one of the largest sporting events in the world, the World Cup, kicks off, it will be interesting to see how American stadiums handle the global audience and sustainability expectations. 

Looking for a job in sports sustainability?

If you are looking for a rewarding career that combines your passion for sports and the environment, you can become a Sustainability Officer, ESG Manager, Head of Sustainability or Environmental Social Governance Manager. These roles require you to have a strong understanding of greenhouse gas accounting, net-zero strategy, ESP reporting, problem solving, research driven analytics, waste reduction strategies and excellent communication skills. If you would like to be part of sustainability in sports, having a career as these job functions would be very rewarding.

At Jobs for Planet, we drive a sustainable future through our talent acquisition services. Want to learn how we connect clients with top sports sustainability talent? Book at meeting or email us hello@jobsforplanet.com