“It’s not a football pitch, it’s a desert”. Drought and heat harm European football, but big clubs take £370m / €430m to promote fossil fuels…
Despite heat, drought and fires impacting European elite and grassroots football this summer, UEFA has rolled back its climate targets and embraced pro-fossil fuel messaging in the Champions League. In fact, we found that 8 of the 10 biggest clubs on show have polluter sponsorship on their shirts, in deals worth at least £370m / […]
Briefing: The End of the World… (Cup). Why the 2026 FIFA World Cup shows football must stop promoting pollution
Two days before the final, the air quality advice for East Rutherford, where it will be played, is to “reduce outdoor exercise“. The poor air quality is caused by Canadian wildfires, made more likely and intense due to climate change caused by the burning of fossil fuels. FIFA sponsor Aramco is the world’s biggest oil […]
Hot, Polluting and Promoting Big Oil: World Cup Factsheet
The 2026 World Cup will be the most polluting ever because it is far larger than any previous edition, demands air travel across an entire continent and will promote the world’s largest oil company to billions of viewers. At the same time, it is highly exposed to dangerous extreme weather, worsened by fossil fuels and […]
FIFA and Saudi Aramco: 5 Reasons This Deal is a Bad Idea!
FIFA and Aramco Factsheet: the World’s Biggest Polluter on the World’s Biggest Stage Aramco is the world’s largest oil producer, worth around $1.6 trillion. It is 98.5% owned by the Saudi Arabian state. In 2024, FIFA made Aramco its “major worldwide partner” in a sponsorship deal reportedly worth $100 million per year. The agreement covers […]
Champions League Pollution
After another European summer defined by dangerous heat and fire, our analysis of UEFA’s flagship competition finds it is making an outsized contribution to the fossil fuel pollution that is worsening this extreme weather and harming football at every level. Find the full publication below.
Club World Cup Briefing
Our analysis sets out the massive pollution linked to FIFA’s newly expanded Club World Cup, even as the tournament is highly exposed to extreme heat worsened by climate change.
Media Highlights
Fossil Free Football – Media Highlights Selected media coverage involving the organisation.
Annual Report 2024
An overview of the activities of Fossil Free Football in 2024. Fossil Free Football receives support from the KR Foundation.
“Low Risk” on Sustainability: FIFA’s Ludicrous Evaluation of World Cup Bids
There are gaping flaws in FIFA’s newly released bid evaluations for the 2030 and 2034 World Cups (see also our expanded briefing note on the 2034 tournament). FIFA’s ludicrous characterisation of both the three-continent 2030 and the Saudi 2034 bids as posing “low risk” on environmental protection and sustainability indicates that it is totally unfit […]
Briefing Note – Climate & FIFA Saudi Arabia 2034 World Cup
What is happening? On December 11, FIFA will meet to designate the hosts for the 2030 and 2034 World Cup. The only bidder for the 2034 World Cup is the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (thanks to intervention in the bidding process by FIFA). How can we think about the pollution this World Cup would cause? […]