Women’s Euro 2025 in Switzerland set new sustainability standards

Uefa and SFA: A milestone has been reached with the Women's EURO 2025 Keystone-SDA

New sustainability standards have been set for the 2025 European Women's Football Championship in Switzerland.

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European football’s governing body, UEFA, and the Swiss Football Association said on Tuesday that these measures are now a core part of staging any modern tournament.

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Peter Knäbel, President of the Swiss Football Association, said he wanted to talk about more than football. “This is about the future of our sport,” he said. With sustainability as the central theme, UEFA and the Swiss Football Association held a joint media briefing. UEFA presented the findings of its sustainability report for the Women’s EURO 2025, while the Swiss Football Association outlined its own “Spirit of Football” sustainability strategy.

UEFA had set itself almost four dozen targets and around 100 measures, aiming to reduce emissions, ensure better protection and strengthen rights and equality.

Transport is a major source of CO₂ emissions, which is why many of the measures focused on mobility, said Filippo Veglio, UEFA’s head of sustainability. Around two‑thirds of fans travelled to the stadium by public transport, while about 20% arrived on foot or by bike.

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Licensing plan

In total, the roughly 600,000 spectators generated around 27,708 tonnes of CO₂ emissions. There are no comparable figures for the Women’s European Championship held in England, but the data from Switzerland is expected to serve as a benchmark for future tournaments. “Our journey doesn’t end here,” said Veglio, pointing to events such as the 2029 European Championship in Germany.

Veglio said last summer’s spectacular fan march in Bern showed just how important a milestone the Women’s EURO has become. The Swiss Football Association’s sustainability strategy, “Spirit of Football”, also aims to bring many more girls and women into the game.

The Swiss Football Association hopes its “Legacy Programme” will play a key role in bringing more women into football. The targets set under the initiative are ambitious, the director of women’s football Marion Daube told reporters.

While the number of female coaches and referees has been rising steadily each year, there is still work to do when it comes to players. Measures are now being rolled out to improve the quality of the women’s game in Switzerland and raise standards. One of them is a new licensing system, due to be introduced in 2026, modelled on the men’s professional league.

Translated from German by AI/sp

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