UDINESE CALCIO AT GREEN & BLUE FESTIVAL
Udinese Calcio remain as one of the frontrunners in environmental sustainability in football and over 5 and 6 June the club, represented by Magda Pozzo, took part at the Green and Blue Festival in Milan.
The event, organised by the GEDI publishing group, Milan, tackled environmental sustainability in areas such as industry, fashion, and most pertinently for Udinese football.
On the afternoon of 6 June a panel discussion titled "What does football contribute?" was held. In addition to Magda Pozzo, Michele Uva (Director of Social Responsibility at UEFA), Marco Caroli (Director of Marketing at U.C. Sampdoria), Morten Thorsby (Founder of We Play Green), Nicola Giuggioli (Manager and Co-founder of Eco Age) and Manuela Ravalli (IULM Sport Marketing) were present.
As well as discussing the issue of football’s commitment to tackling environmental issues, Udinese Calcio had the opportunity to outline the club’s green policies. These have already been in place for years and last year led to the club joining the United Nations Sport For Climate Action programme, making it one of the first clubs in Europe to do so.
Udinese believe that eco-sustainability is a value which needs to be conveyed to and shared with all of their collaborators. This is demonstrated by the club’s ambition to make the Dacia Arena the first totally green stadium in Italy thanks to the use of electricity obtained from sustainable sources. This is part of the agreement held with Bluenergy for our stadium, which is already CO2 free.
What’s more, for the last two seasons the team’s shirts, produced by Macron, have been made from a fabric derived from recycled plastic bottles, meaning that Udinese is the first club in the world to use such clothing at a professional football level. In addition, the players wear boots made by Yatay, which are also environmentally friendly. This is part of a wider approach by the club which covers activities and awareness campaigns promoting the environment and wellbeing of the planet we live on.
"Eco-sustainability is one of Udinese’s core values, and we’re keen to raise awareness of this issue with our partners,” stressed Magda Pozzo. “Our relationships go far beyond simple commercial or sponsorship deals: they’re about the sharing of values. For this reason we’ve wanted our partners to get on board with green initiatives with us, such as having environmentally friendly shirts made by Macron and making Dacia Arena Italy's first green stadium".
(Photo Udinese Calcio)
