Football & Climate – Tactical changes on and off the pitch

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Written by Sofie Junge Pedersen*

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I have heard some people saying that it would be a bit weird if the football world started to make campaigns about global warming and how to stop it. That the connection between  climate change and football is not as clear as that of, for example, football and the LGBTQ+ movement. The argumentation from these people is that when football is, or should be, for everyone, then the football world must fight for LGTBQ+ people’s equal rights.

First-hand experience

The campaigns for LGTBQ+ people are very important, and I was happy to see all the engagement and statements around this matter during the UEFA EURO 2020. But if everybody should have the right to play football, we must not forget to fight for the many, many people around the world who will not be able to play football in the future – because of climate change. 

Climate changes are already affecting everybody, and some people are affected much more than others. People have their harvest destroyed, rivers and lakes dry out, heavy rain destroys houses etc. These catastrophes are of course much more important than football, but if we need to keep the connection to football, I will tell from experience that it is impossible to play in 36 degrees. I have tried it, and I was not able to complete the training session. I have heard players talking about playing in polluted areas where they were not able to breathe properly. And when artificial pitches, but also natural grass pitches, have been heated up, my teammates and I have got painful blisters on our feet. 

These are experiences from the professional football world, which I am lucky to be part of. But what about outside the professional football world? I have been working with girls playing football in Ghana for the last 7 years, and I have seen in which conditions they are playing: the heat has made the pitches hard like stone and it is difficult to get potable water. It makes me sad to imagine how the conditions will be for these communities in the future if we do not manage to stop global warming and  help these communities to adapt to the already on-going climate changes. 

„My teammates and I have got painful blisters on our feet.“

Sofie Junge Pedersen

And it is not only in Ghana that it will be impossible to play, and it will not only be impossible due to heat or the lack of drinking water. Extreme weather such as floods, hurricanes, landslides etc.  will destroy pitches and the possibility of playing football around the world – not only in the poorer regions of the world, though these countries will be and already are suffering the most due to  global warming.

Here you have got the connection between football and climate changes! If football should be for everyone to play and enjoy also in the future, then we have to fight climate change. 

Not only can campaigns in the football world help put focus on the problem and spread the message about the importance of fighting global warming among the billions of football fans around the world – the football world must also make its own contribution to decrease carbon emissions like everybody else. Especially the professional part of the football world has a huge carbon footprint, for example due to all the transportation by flight to away games, tournaments etc. Like everyone else, each club must look at itself to see how it can reduce its carbon emissions. 

Becoming an ambassador

Last year I became an ambassador of Football4Climate and also for WePlayGreen – initiatives that want to help the football world to reduce its carbon emissions and  create awareness about climate change among  football fans. I like these initiatives as I believe that if the fans make their favourite club aware that running a professional football club in a sustainable way is important for them, then the football world will make the necessary changes quicker.

I am more positive now than what I have been earlier, as I see a lot of good people who really want to do something to stop the catastrophic global warming – also a lot of good people within the football world. But we need to speed up – every report from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) tells us this. 

And I will just end this opinion piece by giving some facts that always make me extremely embarrassed and make me try to contribute to stop  climate change: 80% of the world’s population has never been flying. The 10% richest people in the world were from 1990-2015 responsible for 52% of the global CO2 emissions (Source: Oxfam Ibis). It is us, in the rich world, who are by far the most responsible for this catastrophe, and we therefore need to do the most to stop global warming. The football world can and must play a part in this. Among many other things to ensure that everybody can enjoy and play football in the future.  

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* Sofie Junge Pedersen is a Danish footballer who plays as a midfielder for Juventus of the Italian Serie A and for the Danish national team. In addition to her football career and university studies she undertakes charity and development work in Africa.

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