Football clubs to launch Clean Air Champions League

On the morning of 17th December representatives of four football clubs from around Europe, plus a national football association,  came together for the inaugural meeting of the Clean Air Champions League, which will be officially launched next year.

The league was conceived by Dublin-based Bohemian Football Club and supported by European Football for Development Network.

The other teams involved are Wolverhampton Wanderers, ADO Den Haag from the Netherlands and Real Betis from Spain, who are joined by the Bulgarian Football Union.

The Clean Air Champions League will take three distinct approaches to promote engagement with the air quality debate:

• High-quality air monitors will be installed at each participating club’s ground to collect reliable data.
• An online resource will feature a live league table, ranking clubs based on local air quality, adding a unique competitive element.
• Fan and community education initiatives will raise awareness and inspire action on air quality and climate health.

Fan-owned Bohs, as the club are known, have quite the track record of environmental and social responsibility. Seán McCabe, the club’s Head of Climate Justice & Sustainability explained that the next phase of the Clean Air Champions League will involve ‘reaching out to potential partners, public health experts, and suppliers to build the project further.’

Wolves’ involvement in the project forms part of their One Pack One Planet strategy, which aims to engage fans to help improve the club’s environmental performance.

Jonathan Warburton, Wolves Foundation’s Head of Programmes for Education, Employability and Youth Engagement said: ‘We are delighted to be the first English club involved in this hugely important collaboration between clubs and organisations across Europe.

‘The concept is that each club or organisation will have an air quality monitoring system installed at their stadium or training facility, from which the date will be able to tell the story about the level of the emissions in the locality.

‘That goes into a league table which isn’t just based on emissions but also the number of people who are engaged in activity to build awareness such as educational workshops.

‘The partners on the project held their first meeting just before Christmas, and there is plenty more preparation to be done over the coming months before the Clean Air Champions League officially launches in 2026.’

Wolves intend that the data collected will lead to an engagement exercise as to what can be done, if needed, to improve the air quality around their stadium.

Jonathan continues: ‘Our role at the Foundation will be to build and develop a plan of educational workshops across the community.

‘We will be speaking to fans, local residents, people who work nearby and local schools to assess the best ways of responding to the data, and to see what actions we can all take to improve the air quality within the city.

‘Maybe there will be ideas that emerge to change perceptions on travelling to fixtures and travelling to work, as part of a bigger piece around our commitment to One Pack One Planet.

‘It can only be a positive for Wolves to be involved in such an exciting project on a European stage, and we are looking forward to seeing how it develops.’

Anyone wishing to become involved should contact Seán at sean.mccabe@bohemians.ie