Free Kicks project

Free Kicks project

Deliverables

Romanian Football Federation Brings Awareness to FREE KICKS Project during International Matches

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The FREE KICKS project gained significant visibility from the actions of project partner FRF, during the latter part of the year. Matches of the Romanian Men’s and Women’s National Teams, in addition to the U21 and U20 teams allowed for the project’s banners to be displayed in stadiums, reaching thousands of fans in attendance and millions of viewers on television.

Highlights:

  1. Romania vs. Lithuania
     UEFA Nations League – 9/9/2024
     This match drew 28,125 spectators in the stadium and was broadcast to a large TV audience of 1.6 million people.
     Score: 3-1 for Romania. 
  2. Romania vs. Kosovo
     UEFA Nations League – 15/11/2024
    A strong number of 49,977 fans turned out, selling out the National Arena Stadium and reaching over 2.02 million people on TV.
     Score: 3-0 for Romania due to abandoned match. 
  3. Romania vs. Cyprus
     UEFA Nations League – 18/11/2024
     It was a near-capacity match with a crowd of 45,244 fans and over 1.7 million people tuned in to the TV broadcast.
     Score: 4-1 for Romania. 
  4. Romania vs. Poland
     UEFA Women’s EURO Qualifier – 25/10/2024
     Held at the Arch of Triumph Stadium Bucharest, 3000 spectators were in the stands.
     Score: 2-1 for Poland. 
  5. Romania vs. Montenegro
     UEFA EURO U21 2025 Qualifiers – 06/09/2024
     6,500 supporters filled the sold-out Eugen Popescu Stadium Targoviste.
     Score: 1-0 for Romania. 
  6. Romania vs. Switzerland
     UEFA EURO U21 2025 Qualifiers – 15/10/2024
     This match drew 9,056 fans to Rapid Stadium Bucharest stadium
     Score: 3-1 for Romania. 
  7. Romania vs. Switzerland
     U20 National Team Match -14/10/2024
     The Eugen Popescu Stadium Targoviste was lively with 2057 spectators in attendance.
     Score: 2-2.

Additionally, Voxpop interviews with Romanian National Team supporters were shown in the stadiums during the matches as mentioned above. In these videos, fans shared their thoughts and opinions on the FRF’s efforts to enhance circularity and sustainability within the organisation.

#EUFreeKicks

*Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.

Mid-Term Conference Presented at Sport Positive Summit 2024

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On 9th October 2024 in London, the mid-term conference of FREE KICKS* was hosted during Sport Positive Summit 2024. Being open to the 600 on-site attendees, and also being live streamed and recorded, it brought together the partners of FREE KICKS, as well as EU officials, to share progress on the project and key information to sport and football attendees to progress their work on sustainability.

The conference was hosted by FREE KICKS project leader S.Anna School of Advanced Studies’ Associate Professor in Sustainability Management, Tiberio Daddi, with Alessio Novi of the same institution setting the scene for the session with FREE KICKS work to date.

Novi shared key findings from environmental footprint calculations undertaken by project partners. These findings include the average CO2 emitted by one football match is equal to a car driving from Rome to Hong Kong, 72 times OR the Co2 absorbed by 1202 trees in one year. Additionally, the largest average environmental footprint from football matches are fan mobility, stadium and training facility energy consumption and the environmental impacts from food and beverages consumed.

Another major project milestone is FREE KICKS partner, FC Porto, being EMAS certified. EMAS registration is a voluntary governance tool for improving environmental performance. Emilien Gasc, Counsellor – Climate, Environment, Energy, Delegation of the EU to the UK joined the conference to share more about their work.

Gasc began by answering the question; why football? “We believe the global football industry is responsible for 30 million tonnes of CO2 emissions per year. In local communities, football is a trusted community source” he shared. The popularity of EMAS is clear, with 4000 registered organisations in the EU currently. Benefits of EMAS registration mentioned by Gasc include improved environmental performance – 70% of registered EMAS organisations believe they have achieved savings – and improved legal compliance, due to a better understanding of staff and suppliers.

The conference was completed with an interactive panel discussion between FREE KICKS partners from Malmö FF, Real Betis Balompié, FC Porto and Romanian Football Federation. In this discussion, they share insights on the process of their own environmental impact assessments and solutions that can help drive positive change forward.

The full conference recording can be accessed here.

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** Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them

Report on the Assessment of
the Supply Chain Governance of Football Organisations

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The latest electronic FREE KICKS* report explores the environmental governance needs of football supply chains, identified through a comprehensive organisational analysis.  The goal of this report is to identify the environmental governance gaps and needs, as well as improvement opportunities, of each participating football organisation from a supply chain perspective.

The assessment was conducted through desk analysis and interviews. The report maps the FREE KICKS partners’ current state of environmental management governance and identifies key actors, responsibilities, and departments involved in operations that significantly impact the environment. It also considers relevant indirect environmental impacts along the supply chain. The analysis pinpoints governance gaps and needs, offering improvement opportunities and best practices for better environmental governance.

Read the full report here.

* Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.