February 18, 2025
Project Partner Real Betis Balompié holds Forever Green match
FREE KICKS* project partner Real Betis Balompié continues to show the power of football in tackling environmental sustainability and responsibility. In the Forever Green match against Real Sociedad on 16 February 2025, Real Betis continued the Without Blue, There Is No Green campaign activities. Real Betis Balompié welcomed 48,758 supporters in their 3-0 victory.
Key initiatives of the night included:
- Goals for the Oceans – Sponsors Gree and Gravity Wave pledged to remove 1 ton of plastic from the ocean per Betis goal, resulting in 3,000 kg of plastic collected.
- Fan-led waste management – Volunteers from the Real Betis – CaixaBank program and OK Planet encouraged fans to pick up and recycle waste and containers at the designated points in the stadium.
- Reforestation initiative – A total of 300 trees will be planted thanks to over 230 participants.
- Sustainable hydration – Players used reusable bottles made from sugar cane.
- Sustainable entertainment – Electric Band played a set featuring instruments made from sustainable materials and environmentally friendly lyrics.
- Awareness video – The Forever Green Manifesto video was shown in the stadium, explaining its relation to number 14 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) of the UN’s 2030 Agenda, ‘Life Below Water’.
- Special-edition jersey – Real Betis sported the first kit made of marine algae.
- Symbolic match entrance – Pre-match participants highlighted marine pollution through the players and officials walking out to the pitch with a fishing net from the Andalusian coast and the mascots carrying stuffed turtles
- Additional details – Sustainability messages were featured on the steps to the teams’ changerooms, and the captain’s armband raised awareness of invasive Asian algae in Tarifa.
- Suppoter Mobility – Fans were encouraged to travel sustainably with a dedicated bike parking area outside the stadium.
Read more from the Forever Green website here.
* Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.
