Italy’s top football competition Lega Serie A has partnered with the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) to collaborate on a shared vision of sustainable football.

The continental governing body of football in Europe, UEFA are no strangers to pursuing and assisting in social change, having recently partnered with the European Club Association to create a Ukranian relief fund, as well as with Mastercard to launch a children’s health and education campaign.

Following the December 2021 release of UEFA’s football sustainability strategy 2030, Lega Serie A have been chosen by UEFA to implement a pilot project aimed at defining a clear sustainability strategy by the 2023/24 season.

The program will look at 11 areas of interest:

• Anti-racism
• Child and youth protection
• Equality and inclusion
• Football for all abilities
• Health and well-being
• Refugee support
• Solidarity and rights
• Circular economy
• Climate and advocacy
• Event sustainability
• Infrastructure sustainability

For each of the outlined areas of interest, the two organisations will work together to define ambitions and solid targets to be pursued by 2030.

Commenting on the partnership, Lega Serie A president, Lorenzo Casini, said: “Football is followed by millions of people around the world and therefore also has a responsibility to generate a positive impact and promote good practices with regard to global issues such as environmental sustainability. The transition to a green economy and respect for human rights.”

“I would like to thank UEFA for having identified Lega Serie A as the right partner, after years of increasing commitment in all social responsibility activities, to undertake together an ambitious, and at the same time necessary, path that requires teamwork and sharing among all the players involved that made it possible to launch this project.

“We are proud to work with UEFA to raise awareness of the new sustainability targets and promote to all our fans the social impact that football can have,” he said.

UEFA director of football and social responsibility, Michele Uva, added: “Environmental, social and governance standards and mechanisms are increasingly applied to link the sustainability, operational and financing strategies of professional football.”

“Our ‘strength through unity’ strategy has set out UEFA’s long-term commitment to drive collaborative and measurable actions, guided by the belief that respect for human rights and the environment is at the core of the success of European football.

“We look forward to working with Lega Serie A as the first pilot league implementing UEFA’s sustainability framework and to casting action across the league,” he said.