Women’s Football is at an inflection point. For the past few years, the game has been expanding in viewership, sponsorship deals, and in every other conceivable way. This growth comes at a cost– an environmental one. As women’s football takes its rightful place in the mainstream, federations, clubs, players, and fans have to make a choice when it comes to sustainability. Will the women’s game follow in the carbon-heavy footsteps of the men’s game? Or will the collective community of women’s football find a new way to operate in the sporting world?
Women’s football is a realm of activism. Many players are spokeswomen for causes just by existing in the public eye. But with great campaigns and important fights against sexism, racism, and other critical causes near and dear to players’ hearts, only a few advocate for sustainability or environmental causes.
Jessie Fleming is one great example of a player using her platform to fight for the Earth. The Canadian superstar has partnered with Common Goal to advocate for climate action in the past, including pledging the social carbon cost of her air travel for club and country this year to a community regenerative farming initiative in 2024.
Lotte Wubben-Moy teamed up with the environmental non-profit Football for Future and Nike to create the Climate Champion Handbook that aimed to educate footballers on the fundamentals of climate change and how players can make a positive impact.
Retired USWNT star Sam Mewis is a huge advocate for climate action, even penning an article in The Athletic about how climate change can be addressed through a sports lens. Newly retired NWSL defender Lauren Barnes made a big impact for OL Reign, spearheading campaigns to reduce single-use plastics and even create sustainable travel kits. OL Reign has made great strides through her leadership.
While these players – and more – are doing the important work, it will likely only make an impact if women’s football adopts sustainability and protests on a larger scale. If players and fans band together in the fight for climate action like they have for other causes, there’s a real opportunity for FIFA and other federations to make changes. It’s also hard to prioritize sustainability with the disparity in funding and resources available to the women’s game in comparison to the men. Players also risk speaking out without backing from their player union – but player unions are proven to make changes, such as Professional Footballers Australia in their renegotiation of contracts. If energy is put into sustainability, there is room for change.
Tournament organizers have the biggest opportunity to make a difference. The 2022 Women’s Cup in Louisville set the standard as the first carbon-neutral pro soccer tournament and showed how to be truly environmentally friendly, even if on a small scale. The 2025 Euros made a great effort to reduce the environmental footprint of the tournament. The organization of the group stages attempted to reduce travel by offering free public transport to aid fans and keeping group stage games close to limit team travel.
Climate action doesn’t just affect the world at large, but specifically football conditions. More extreme weather can make for dangerous playing conditions – from heat exhaustion needing more water breaks and systems to keep players safe to heating pitches on frigid days – these actions snowball into more issues for football and the world.
Looking at the environmental impact of just some of the surface level aspects of the game, we can see the negative impact from travel and new kits to stadium maintenance and upkeep. There are some things that seem too vast to change. But there are other things that are manageable.
Areas where women’s football can act include partnering with climate conscious brands and advocating for change through sponsorship, limiting single use plastics and making eco-friendly kits, players and clubs using their significant platforms to raise awareness, and a plethora of other Earth-friendly actions. Unfortunately, the areas that seem the most daunting are also the most taxing – long flights and fan transport, stadium heating and lighting, and more.
Many organizations claim to take action, but some of it seems more symbolic to appease the public than actually impactful. When Nike or Adidas make “climate conscious” kits, most fans don’t know what that means or if it’s a genuine action. Marketing isn’t reality, so conscientious fans should look for language specifying that the merchandise they buy is made of 100% recycled materials, or research into the campaigns from big brands that aim to make money off tokenism.
Many clubs are sponsored by inherently environmentally unfriendly entities, from airlines to fossil fuel companies to fast fashion brands. This not only promotes the actions of these brands, but makes clubs have less control over their messaging and actions. While in the TV show Ted Lasso, the players wore black tape over their oil sponsorship in protest. It’s hard to see something like that happening without severe consequences. For players to make real action, they need support from each other, their unions, their clubs, and their federations.
While it may be hard for a game reliant on commercial growth to truly go green, there is room for change. From the fans up to the top football executives, everyone has a part to play in protecting our Earth and the beautiful game.
