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Article for month of July

by Govinda Katuwal | 29-07-2022 13:51


Climate Change in Sports: Football


Without a doubt, the most popular sport is football, like every child I am a football fan and a player of myself in our society. But unlike the favorite position i.e., forward such as  Lewandowski, Messi, Muller, Ronaldo. I am the protector of goals and the one who ruins the critical moment viz., goalkeeper. It is an art in itself we will discuss about it later. 


With increasing threat of climate change in every sector outdoor sports especially concentrating on football is much needed as of now. The beautiful game played between two teams from local level to international level holds a significance enthusiast to all of the football lover in the world. 


The extreme weather events leads the summer being more hotter and winter being more wetter making the playing pitch difficult to play. Add this with most of the coastal stadiums which have high risk of flooding due to rising sea levels.


One of such example is that the 2019 women¡¯s football world cup was played in most extreme conditions where International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) had to change the rule adding multiple water breaks. As climate change continues the warming of planet such will be norms of playing. Not only physical impacts due to climate change the psychological and muscles tiredness due to heat are also considerable amount of threats. This is the case to both players and spectators. 


From one point of view it seems that football is only the victim of climate change but looking deeper it is also the cause of climate change. The most celebrated event in football is the world cup which happens every four years, along with important cup games like champions league and nations league all around the world.


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One study find out that the last three world cup emitted 2.75, 2.27, and 2.16 million tonnes of carbon emissions in 2010, 2014, and 2018 respectively. More research point out that the annual emissions of football as a whole is equivalent of 10 million tonnes of carbon emissions. These accounts for all the emissions of players, stadium management, and most important fan travels. 


Many clubs and nations are working in order to attain the sustainability aim in regard of football too. A great example of this is from a club in England. Forest Green Rovers is the world first UN certified carbon-neutral football club, despite being a league two club. From switching a source of energy to renewable to reducing the fans carbon emissions international football events can achieve something to combat climate change. This will not be attained alone the football legends and playing athletes who influences millions of fan can be key factor in new change. 


Football is the sport loved by almost all of us. Less is known for its impacts due to climate change. The new rules and norms will be mandatory in upcoming days as climate change threaten everything.