Teams are today joining forces against climate change in the world’s biggest football campaign to protect our world, Green Football Weekend.
For the next 20 days, clubs are battling it out for the coveted Green Football Cup. But unlike other tournaments, it’s fan action that will decide who takes the Cup home, with fans scoring green goals for their club by taking climate-friendly actions – from eating a veggie meal to turning the thermostat down one degree or taking a shorter shower.
Fans can choose their activities and register their goals at greenfootballweekend.com.
The competition will culminate in Green Football Weekend on 3-5 February, when clubs will join fans in implementing changes by making their fixtures ‘greener games’, and some teams will wear green armbands to show their support for protecting our world.
Amazing prizes are up for grabs for anybody taking part in Green Football Weekend, including 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, and yearly subscriptions to children’s newspaper First News. Throughout the tournament, fans can choose which green goals to score and track the progress of their club via the live leaderboard at greenfootballweekend.com.
Green Football Weekend spokesperson, Sarah Jacobs, explained: “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 – reducing their shower time to four minutes, having two meat-free days per week and turning the thermostat down by 1 degree – fans could save more than 700 million kg CO2e, the equivalent of planting 11.78 million trees.”
Jacobs added: “And 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.”
Amy Turner, Tottenham Hotspur defender, said: “Climate change affects all of us. That’s why it’s so important that football continues to use its unique platform to inspire the millions of people it reaches to make a difference. Green Football Weekend is fan action at its most powerful. It’s fans who can lead their club to victory in the Green Football Cup, and fans showing the world what we can achieve together by making simple changes in our lives. I’m extremely proud to be playing for Tottenham Hotspur – a Club that takes environmental sustainability seriously and is giving its backing to this fantastic initiative.”
Mark Bullingham, FA Chief Executive, said: “The climate crisis is one of the most pressing issues of our time, and we are pleased to support the Green Football Weekend campaign. At The FA, we have made great strides to become more environmentally friendly, including Wembley Stadium being awarded the highest standard of sustainability by the ISO, and we are dedicated to making even further progress. Football has the power to inspire people and improve lives, and collectively we can make positive and meaningful change.”
The campaign, which is set to become an annual event, is backed by more than 30 major supporters, including the FA, the EFL, the WSL, the National Trust, RSPB and the Church of England.
Gary Hughes, Director of Football at Sky Sports, said: “We’re proud to be involved in Green Football Weekend, a moment for football clubs and their fans to come together to tackle climate change. At Sky Sports, we’re committed to minimising our impact on the environment and to use the power of sport for good. We know sport can really help inspire change amongst fans and we hope working alongside BT Sport and the other key partners in Green Football Weekend it will have a real impact across the beautiful game, to help protect our beautiful planet.”
Fergus Garber, head of broadcast and production operations, BT Sport, said: ” Working together with Sky Sports and a range of organisations is, we hope, a key step towards educating fans about the climate emergency. BT Sport is working hard to become one of the greenest broadcasters in the UK and over Green Football Weekend fans can expect us to continue to use our platform to raise awareness of climate change. We’re looking forward to supporting Green Football Weekend.”
Green Football Weekend is powered by Sky Sports, BT Sport, the Football Supporters Association, Pledgeball, Planet League, First News and Count Us In.
