After two years and half of beautiful experiences, the GOALS project arrived at its conclusion. The Institute of Management of the Sant’Anna School of Advaced Studies of Pisa as a coordinator and all the partners, ESSMA, Real Betis, Romanian, Kosovar and Portuguese Federation want to thank all the stakeholders that have supported our project and our ideas. In particular, a special thanks to UEFA that constantly support us.

In addition to hours and hours of webinars and training sessions to increase the awareness on climate change and environmental sustainability in the football world, the GOALS project has been able to achieve also some practical targets.

In particular, Real Betis realized their t-shirts made with recycled 100% polyester. Spanish club Betis and kit supplier Kappa have thus released a special edition “Sustainable Kit”. It was worn in the 21-22 La Liga against Athletic Club on Sunday, the “first LaLiga game for sustainability”. In line with the Real Betis’s objective to reduce its Carbon Footprint, the club launched the measurement of the Carbon Footprint for this match. During the match day, Real Betis also promoted sustainable means of transportation such as car/bike/scooter sharing.

The Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) engaged GD Ilha club for the implementation of recyclable glasses. On May 2022, they have distributes 200 glasses for their players. The collaboration with the SC Braga instead foreseen the installation of six water refill stations to reduce plastic consumption and the installation of an area specifically dedicated to bikes and scooters to foster green mobility.

Moreover, both FPF and the Romanian Football Federation (FRF) obtained the ISO 14001 certification. They become the first two football federations certified all over the world. FRF also reduced its environmental impact by replacing old lamps with LED lamps within its office and by installing water flows optimizers.

Lastly, the Football Federation of Kosovo encouraged the adoption of separate waste management among their first league clubs and within its offices. In collaboration with the stadium of Pristina, they have also installed LED giant screens in order to increase energy efficiency.

If you want to learn more about the operational and governance actions adopted by the GOALS project, write us an email to receive the full report.