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January 27, 2023
Ahead of the UK’s Green Football Weekend (February 3-5), more than 80 of the UK’s top clubs have teamed up to spur action on the climate crisis. As part of the “world’s biggest football campaign to protect our world”, fans can score ‘green goals’ for their club by taking actions to reduce their carbon footprint.
The 20 days of action to the weekend kicked off on January 17 with clubs battling it out as part of the Green Football Cup. Clubs will implement changes to make their games greener, but fans climate-friendly actions will ultimately decide the winner. Participants amass points by pledging to make green switches and by showing the green goals they’ve taken via the campaign website. Examples include having two meat-free days per week, turning the thermostat down by one degree, taking a four-minute shower or by walking or cycling instead of driving.
Fans who register their goals also have the opportunity to take home prizes such as a men’s signed England shirt, tickets to Premier League Games, a voucher for a National Trust holiday cottage, tickets to the Football Supporters Association Awards, Football Manager 23 game codes, BT Sport App passes or yearly subscriptions to children’s newspaper, First News.
“In scoring green goals for their club, football fans have incredible power to help protect our world – and save money in the process. If the UK’s 36 million fans adopted three climate-friendly habits across the course of the 20-day tournament…fans could save more than 700 million kg CO2e, the equivalent of planting 11.78 million trees”, said Green Football Weekend spokesperson Sarah Jacobs.
“The benefits go beyond helping tackle climate change and protecting nature. In taking part, fans can also make significant savings. By adopting these small changes for one year, they could reduce their household bill by up to £728.”
SSet to become an annual event, the campign is being supported by more than 30 sports entities including the FA, the EFL, the WSL, the National Trust, the Church of England, Sky Sports and BT Sport and more. It also counts current and former football stars, Steve McManaman, Robbie Savage, Jamie Carragher, Karen Carney, Ben Mee, Amy Turner, David Wheeler and Katie Rood amongst its backers.
“The footballing community has the power to push the conversation forward and make real change that will help protect the world. There are so many ways fans can support during Green Football Weekend – at home, at work, at their local football clubs – and every small action adds up to making a massive difference,” said Mee.
The Rainforest Trust UK will protect an area of rainforest equivalent to 1,000 pitches in the name of the winning club. Currently Manchester United and Leicester City top the leaderboard.
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