Green Football Weekend - UK clubs and fans working together towards climate change action

More than 80 football clubs are working together in a bid to tackle the climate crisis in a brand new initiative.

Green Football Weekend, taking place on 3-5 February will see clubs implementing changes by making their fixtures ‘greener games’, and some teams will wear green armbands to show their support in fighting climate change.

This comes at the end of 20 days of action, starting today, where fans can score ‘green goals’ for their club by taking climate-friendly actions - from eating a veggie meal, turning the thermostat down one degree, or even taking a shorter shower.

Fans can choose their activities and register their goals at greenfootballweekend.com with the team scoring the most ‘goals’ over the course of the campaign lifting the Green Football Cup.

Participating supporters also have the opportunity to take home top 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, and 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 - 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”, explained Green Football Weekend spokesperson Sarah Jacobs.

The campaign, which is set to become an annual event, is backed by more than 30 major supporters, including the FA, the EFL, and the WSL, as well as BT Sport and Sky.

Steve McManaman, Robbie Savage, Jamie Carragher, Karen Carney, Ben Mee, Amy Turner, David Wheeler and Katie Rood are amongst the other big names involved in the campaign.

“The climate crisis is one of the most pressing issues of our time, and we are pleased to support the Green Football Weekend campaign,” said FA Chief Executive Mark Bullingham.

“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.”

"Working together with Sky Sports and a range of organisations is, we hope, a key step towards educating fans about the climate emergency," said Fergus Garber, head of broadcast and production operations, BT Sport.

"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."

Brentford defender Ben Mee added: “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”.