Partners

LEAD PARTNER

SCUOLA SUPERIORE DI STUDI UNIVERSITARI E DI PERFEZIONAMENTO SANT’ANNA

LEAD PARTNER: Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies is an Italian Public University located in Pisa. The FREE KICKS project is led by the Sustainability Management Laboratory (SuM) of the University’s Institute of Management. The SuM Lab combines knowledge of business management and policy making with the principles of sustainability, through scientific and empirical approaches. The areas of expertise of the SuM Lab range from circular economy to environmental management, life-cycle thinking and climate change. Furthermore, SuM has a specific research area dedicated to Sport Sustainability Management.

FUTEBOL CLUBE DO PORTO

Futebol Clube do Porto is one of the oldest football clubs in the world. Founded in 1893 and home to the Portuguese team with the most international titles, it gained worldwide recognition mainly due to its football team: part of the Top 5 teams with the most presences in the UEFA Champions League.

Despite its football history, FC Porto heritage goes beyond the professional competitions. Allied with the eclectic spirit mirrored in other sports, it has in its DNA the inclusion of handicap athletes, who co-habit in state-of-the-art facilities.

Since 2007, the Dragão Stadium is certified in accordance to the international standards of quality and environment, demonstrating early on the environmental commitment assumed by the club.

Social responsibility is also part of FC Porto's DNA. Several are the projects and initiatives implemented throughout the season, as shown in the Sustainability Report, published for the first time in the 2019/20 season.

FUNDACIóN REAL BETIS BALOMPIE

Real Betis Foundation, in charge of channelling and executing the Corporate Social Responsibility of Real Betis, helped 21,503 people last season thanks to the implementation of 48 of its own projects, the involvement in 42 projects of other entities, the support to 186 organisations and an executed budget of 915,519 euros. These numbers have been achieved through the work in the five main areas of action of the Green and Whites' club: Social Area, Cultural and Historical Heritage Area, Former Players' Area, Sports Area and Forever Green.

If there is one thing that has characterised the Real Betis Foundation in recent years and which it has reinforced over the past season, it has been its capacity to adapt to the emerging needs of its environment. Real Betis Balompié, as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility, has positioned itself as one of the clubs most committed to the environment in the Spanish LaLiga and in the world, wanting to be green not only in the colours of its crest, but in all the values of the entity.

The Club decided to take a decisive step with the creation of Forever Green, a sustainability platform that harnesses the power of sport to protect the planet and to be a loudspeaker for those companies and organisations that want to show the world what they are doing for the environment.

MALMö FOTBOLLFORENING

Malmö FF (MFF) was founded in 1910 and is the most successful football club in Sweden, both on and off the pitch. Malmö FF is a non-profit, non-governmental membership-owned club with more than 10’000 members electing the board and its representatives. We strive to be the leading club in Scandinavia and established in Europe. Social responsibility, community projects and sustainability are all important elements of the club since its foundation, and resonates in the club’s vision, mission, code of conduct and long-term strategy. The mission is to foster strong individuals, and to create a winning team on the sporting side as well as through social initiatives in the city and the region with long-lasting impact. While striving for sporting achievements and sporting successes, it is equally important for the club to act as a role model leading the development in the community and in society

EUROPEAN CLUB ASSOCIATION

ECA is the sole independent body directly representing football clubs at European level with a membership base of more than 240 professional football clubs from across the continent. In addition, the ECA Network provides advisory services to around a further 100 professional clubs. As the representative voice of European club football on the international football landscape, ECA works closely with football’s governing bodies, competition organisers and other professional stakeholders to place the clubs at the ‘Heart of Football’.

FEDERATIA ROMANA DE FOTBAL

The Romanian Football Federation (FRF) is a non-profit organization established in 1909. The institutional vocation of the FRF is to promote football all over the Romanian territory, to develop the football phenomenon in all its amplitude and to provide an organizational model for Romanian sports.

As the largest sports organisation in Romania, FRF reunites 280 affiliated members: clubs and football associations, with over 300.000 male and female registered players. The current staff of FRF exceeds 130 members, including the technical staff of the natioal teams (coaches, team managers, medical staff etc.).

FRF is the first Romanian sports organization to have implemented EU funded projects, with a portofolio of approximately 25 projects in implementation or running, since 2014. In the field of sustainability, the Romanian Football Federation was part of Life TACKLE Project (2018 – 2021), Erasmus + GOALS (2021 – 2023) and has adopted a Sustainability Strategy with environmental protection as one of the fundamentals of its action towards further develop football in Romania.

SPORT POSITIVE

Sport Positive is a UK-based community organisation supports global sports organisations to increase ambition and action on climate change, sustainability, biodiversity and environmental justice.

This work manifests through media, events, consultancy, data and research, training and creating partnerships. We host an annual, globally-leading event in collaboration with UNFCCC and International Olympic Committee; Sport Positive Summit. We share information on, and rank top flight football teams based on their environmental sustainability progress; Sport Positive Leagues. We also host the Climate of Sport Podcast, share a bi-weekly intelligence bulletin and work to increase visibility of the topic within mainstream and social media

RACING CLUB ASOCIACION CIVIL

Founded in march 25th, 1903, Racing Club is one of the most important sport institutions of Argentina. It is recognized worldwide thanks to its multiple achievements throughout its history.

Racing has won 18 national championships, 12 national cups and 7 international titles. It has won the Primera División 18 times, with a record of seven consecutive championships between 1913 and 1919 (four of them undefeated). Since this time, it has won the nickname “La Academia”, which remains until today.

In 2022, Racing won the Trofeo de Campeones de la liga professional (Argentine Football Association -AFA-) and the Supercopa Internacional (AFA- Abu Dhabi Sports Council).