The French Football Federation has adopted a CSR strategy in 2019 with five main commitments:

inclusion and cohesion; health and well-being; education and training; energy efficiency; and sustainable consumption and production.

These commitments are declined at different levels of contribution: FFF infrastructures, events with national teams and, of course, amateur football.
Amateur football is at the heart of the FFF’s CSR strategy, particularly regardingenvironmental issues. Indeed, amateur football brings together many children and is, after school and the family, an appropriate place to learn how to protect the environment and spread good practices.

In this respect, the FFF provides leagues, districts and clubs with a tool called the Federal Educational Program. This program is composed of practical sheets on several topics (civil rights, fair play, respect, …) that can be used during football sessions with young players. One of the topics of this program is dedicated to the protection of the environment: the practical sheets teach the young players how to reduce their energy consumption (shower, lights), how to reduce and recycle waste and how to protect nature.

In addition, in 2019/20, the French Football Federation has decided to set up a working group with amateur clubs of different sizes and from different regions of France to imagine what the environmentally responsible amateur football club of the future could be. Some of these clubs have already been rewarded with the Philippe Séguin Trophies of the French Football Foundation. One of these trophies is given each year for a club’s innovative environmental practices.

For example, in 2019, the FCSK06 club won the Trophy for creating an educational vegetable garden next to the football pitches to educate young players about gardening, biodiversity and nutrition. Alongside these clubs, the FFF collaborates with environmental experts
(government, NGOs, French Football Foundation, …) to create a specific guide on environmental protection for amateur clubs.

The FFF is very enthusiastic to pursue its environmental strategy with amateur clubs in the framework of the Greencoach project. This European project will furnish additional tools to the clubs to evaluate their environmental print and work on its reduction.
Finally, the FFF also wishes to go further by introducing in its FFF labels incentive mechanisms that encourage clubs to implement specific actions on environmental protection.