May 26, 2023

FREE KICKS Project Kicks Off in Argentina

FREE KICKS Project Kicks Off in Argentina

The first activities for the FREE KICKS project have started in Buenos Aires, Argentina with Racing Club, one of the partners of the project and one of the most important Argentinian and South American football clubs.

The FREE KICKS project is co-funded by the European Union* and coordinated by the Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies (SSSA). Project partners; FC Porto, Fundación Real Betis Balompie, Malmö FF, Racing Club, Romanian Football Federation, European Club Association (ECA) and Sport Positive, will address the topics of circular economy and environmental sustainability in football organisations.

In Buenos Aires, Tiberio Daddi and Alessio Novi from SSSA visited the Racing’s facilities and the stadium in April 2023. The objective was to evaluate, through an on-site visit and interviews, the level of implementation of environmental management and possible improvement actions.

On-site discussions included the collection of functional data for the development of environmental indicators that will allow the organisation to monitor and implement its environmental performance, and the calculation of the environmental impacts of a Racing match, through the Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology, taking into consideration each source of environmental impact. This activity will be important to develop a case study to compare Racing Club’s environmental impacts with that of a European club’s football match.

FREE KICKS coordinators visited both the impressive facilities and stadium. In terms of facilities, Racing owns a training centre made of 11 pitches (Centro Tita Mattiussi). In this training centre, both the first team and young athletes train, but different sports are practiced here too; Tita Mattiussi can host up to 1300 athletes per day. Racing facilities also include the presence of a schools to cater for kindergarten, primary and secondary levels. The school hosts young Racing football players and other students, who must finish their secondary school education to be able to play with Racing. Racing offers to some athletes free accommodation.

Environmental initiatives here include LED lights across the whole training facility and the presence of solar water heating-systems. All the food is in line with sport activities and Racing offers vegetarian and vegan options.

The stadium Juan Domingo Perón has a capacity of 42.500 people. The stadium is well connected with the low-cost transportation system (buses and trains). Racing has implemented LED lights outside of the stadium and it has made agreement with the Avellaneda municipality to collect the waste inside and outside the stadiums during and after home matches.

Racing club is a not-for profit organisation, as it not only a professional football club but it serves as a social and cultural association for the whole Avellaneda area. Racing is indeed implementing several social responsibility initiatives and programmes to add value to the community.

There are three notable projects: Racing Sustentable, Racing Solidario and Racing Integrado.

• Racing Sustentable aims at implementing environmental initiatives, for example, thanks to this project in the stadium there are now areas dedicated to waste separated collection.
• Racing Solidario implemented only in the last year more than 100 social initiatives and campaigns.
• Racing Integrado is an initiative which aims at helping disadvantaged children in practicing sports.

This visit provided SSSA with an incredible experience, provided by Racing Club. The Club is very advanced in terms of social sustainability initiatives. However, some improvement opportunities can be found regarding environmental issues. For example, waste collection could be improved in the training centre, renewable energy could be installed in all facilities, and a particular attention to plastic materials could lead to environmental benefits. All improvement opportunities will properly considered during the FREE-KICKS project, where Racing will develop environmental KPIs, calculate the environmental impacts of their matches, implement improvement actions to enhance its environmental sustainability and environmental campaigns to increase the fans’ awareness.

To find out more about the FREE KICKS Project, visit: https://www.sportpositivesummit.com/free-kicks/ and contact us at [email protected]

 

 

*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 EACEA. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

April 26, 2023

Football Partners Support Transition Towards Goals of EU Green Deal

April 14th, 2023, Pisa: The FREE KICKS project, co-ordinated by the Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies (SSSA), and in partnership with FC Porto, Fundación Real Betis Balompie, Malmö FF, Racing Club, Romanian Football Federation and European Club Association (ECA), has launched and will address the topics of circular economy and environmental sustainability in football organisations.

No organisation in the football world has yet pursued the adoption of EU environmental management tools, such as Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS), EU Ecolabel, Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) or Organisation Environmental Footprint (OEF).

Against this backdrop, the FREE KICKS (Football Relies on EMAS and ECOLABEL to Keep Innovating on Circularity as a Key for Sustainability) Project – co-funded by the European Union* – aims to trigger football’s transition towards the goals of the Green Deal and the New Circular Economy Action Plan, at collective and individual levels, by supporting:

• The uptake of leading-edge environmental management practices and sustainable organizational models among national football associations and professional clubs, focusing on operational activities
• Climate-conscious and environment-friendly behavioural patterns among football organizations

Project coordinators, the Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies, will work with project partners on three key task areas, to:

1. Assess the sustainability needs and environmental priorities of the participating football organisations, and three participating project partners will engage in obtaining EMAS (EcoManagement and Audit Scheme) registration during the project
2. Improve the environmental governance of the football supply chain in the participating football organizations
3. Calculate the environmental footprint of three partner football organizations through the PEF or OEF methodological standards of the European Commission using a life cycle analysis (LCA)

From these efforts each football organization with the support of SSSA and project partner ECA, will define their own Environmental Improvement Plan.

Sport Positive, the London-based organisation that heads up world-leading Sport Positive Summit, Sport Positive Leagues, The Climate of Sport Podcast, intelligence bulletins, media and support to increase action and ambition on sustainability, climate change, biodiversity and environmental justice in sport, will support the project as communication and dissemination partner. This role will include ensuring the learnings and take-aways from project actions are shared with the world of football and sport, to encourage increased action throughout the community.

Over the project’s 30-month duration, from February 2023 – August 2025, FREE KICKS partners will share progress and learnings via dissemination moments including awareness raising events, a mid-term report and conference, knowledge sharing via podcasts, social media, newsletters and videos and a final report and conference detailing the findings and achievements of the project.

At the launch of the project, partners commented on their hopes for the project:

Teresa Santos, Sustainability Manager of FC Porto said “With FC Porto’s participation in the FREE KICKS project, we are convinced it will be another lever for the continuous improvement of our environmental performance. Our experience in environmental management, acquired through the implementation of ISO 14001 within the FC Porto facilities, combined with the diverse know-how of the consortium partners, we believe it will be an important contribution to motivate and achieve behavioural change and environmental performance among sports organizations.”

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Rafael Muela, General Manager at Fundación Real Betis said “This project is a new opportunity to learn and innovate in sustainability from important partners such as the ECA and many other European clubs and federations active in the fight against climate change through sustainable initiatives.”

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Niclas Carlnén, CEO of Malmö FF commented: “At Malmö FF, we recognise the importance of advocating for sustainability in football as a driver for impactful change and promotion of sustainable solutions. While striving for sporting achievements and sporting successes, it is also important for our club to act as a role model leading the development in our community and in society. Therefore, we are proud to take part in the FREE KICKS project to keep innovating and to implement environmental management actions.”

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Tiberio Daddi, associate professor at the Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies, added: “The FREE KICKS project represents a further step forward in the promotion of sustainable solutions for the world of football. The Sustainability Management Laboratory at Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies has extensive experience in EMAS and PEF/OEF. Our research group, focused on Sports and Sustainability, looks forward to applying these tools to football in collaboration with our high-level project Consortium.”

* 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 EACEA. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

Contact For press enquiries of for more information, please contact [email protected]