WFS Europe may have wrapped up a month ago, but the legacy of the event will be felt for some time thanks to partnerships that were made at the Wanda Metropolitano stadium.
Purpose and action were again key themes of WFS Europe as it made its hybrid debut to over 2,000 physical (1,400+) and virtual (600+) attendees.
That saw a number of critical conversations on sustainability, the fight against discrimination and the fight for inclusion, as well as gender equality and the environmental crisis all take place at WFS Europe.
Whether via headline-making panels on the Main Stage and WFS Stage or across lively debate on the sidelines of the event and in the stands of the Wanda Metropolitano, those discussions have become a central part of World Football Summit events and were led by three major developments that will shape the football industry for the better moving forward.
WFS #GetOnside by making Women in Football pledge
During the event, World Football Summit took up the #GetOnside pledge from long-term partners Women in Football, which is a rallying cry to the football industry to take concrete action that will contribute to an improvement for women and girls in the industry.
WFS’ commitment will see us pledge that, from 2022’s WFS Europe event in Sevilla, 30 per cent of our speakers will be women.
World Football Summit director Jan Alessie explained how the pledge comes as the latest in a number of steps WFS has taken to promote women’s participation in football.
“WFS has held a long-standing commitment to empowering women in football ever since its beginning in 2016, with the subject of women’s involvement in the game always playing an essential part in the debates that take place at WFS events,» he said.
“Earlier this year we ran a series of webinars giving a platform to female voices in the industry and just last month we announced Liga MX Femenil as the winner of the ‘Best Women’s Football Initiative’ in our annual WFS Awards. This awards category, dedicated to recognising outstanding efforts to promote the women’s game, has been presented in partnership with Women In Football since 2018.
“Now, through this pledge to ensure that 30% of our speakers are women from 2022 onwards, we hope to give a platform for women in football that will create a pathway for others and show that it is possible for young girls to chase their dream and carve out a career in the beautiful game.”
Spanish Association of Women, Executives and Sport launch
U-Earth & Sports
World Football Summit (WFS): What is U-Earth and how does it work with sports properties?
Betta Maggio: U-Earth is a biotech company with the mission of capturing and destroying toxic air pollutants for humans and the planet. After 12 years of validation, in 2019 we launched Pure Air Zones to create safe public spaces, where the air is depolluted and monitored 24/7 through cutting-edge IoT equipment connected to the cloud and visualised on a dashboard in real time.
The aim is to create and constantly measure clean air environments around athletes and all the sports stakeholders. With the reopening of sports venues, we are now scaling to large sports facilities to safely navigate into the “new normal”.
WFS: How and when did you come to the realization that the world needed U-Earth?
Maggio: The technology at the core of U-Earth comes from 30 years of research. We have been prototyping, validating, and fine-tuning our core biological de-pollution technology since 2008, which was initially developed for extreme events such as environmental disasters of chemical and biological weapons.
Unfortunately, the world became a toxic environment, so we pivoted and developed a miniaturised plug-and-play version of the technology for every kind of business environment (an office, conference, summits, etc.).
Our core belief is that clean air, just like drinkable tap water, should be considered a human right, and should be available to everyone.
Sustainability in Sports
WFS: As a member of the New Champions Community of the World Economic Forum you attended an internal meeting with other CEOs to get briefed on the current situation. What does the future look like?
Maggio: Most of the attention is focused on reducing inequality and addressing climate change and sustainability policies. Today, ESG and related reporting frameworks demand more measurable metrics, but they are still very fragmented and difficult to approach, understand and comply with.
The WEF is creating a private-sector coalition to get ahead on regulations, and specific metrics while also bringing new technology to the table as fast as possible and to simplify sustainability plans and give pursuable options to make an impact now. All these efforts will help the public and private sectors find common ground for reporting standards going forward.
WFS: What is a fundamental skill that you believe the leaders of the football industry need today in the realm of sustainability?
Maggio: Leaders need to be prepared to live in an era of continuous disruption.
Technological advancements are happening faster than ever to face a changing world that will not fix itself on its own. Each domain will be disrupted by tech, whether it’s Quantum Computing, Synthetic Biology, or shifting to new energy sources such as Hydrogen and fusion.
Like any other industry, the football world needs to keep pace, embrace innovation, and deliver unique experiences, not only master the core of the business.
WFS: What are the core pillars of a sustainable strategy?
Maggio: Our focus is on 3 pillars: Awareness, engagement, and action.
The biggest challenge is how to make sustainability easy to understand and something that individuals can adapt to their day-to-day life. In my opinion, football can be a huge driver for building awareness among fans and a way to encourage them to become part of the change the world needs.
The real challenge is making it easy and enjoyable, just like watching a game. We are all on “team planet” together and we should all cheer for it.
Culture & Change Management
WFS: What needs to change from a cultural standpoint so that people and businesses embrace sustainability?
Maggio: Embracing sustainability should be a habit, not a goal. And it must be easy to adopt and highly rewarding for all the parties involved.
WFS: What are the major challenges for that to happen? The 2030 agenda, the word “urgency”, institutional pressure, etc. With so much “out there”, how can a business leader avoid becoming overwhelmed with so much “to do” in the realm of sustainability?
Maggio: On one hand, we need tools that make it easy for fans and business leaders to monitor their sustainability efforts to engage their audiences and to deliver experiences that drive a cultural change towards sustainability.
On the other, sustainability reports are currently written for rating agencies and the investors of large corporations and institutions, but they are very hard for small businesses and individuals to understand and incorporate into their everyday practice.
“Courage is a choice, and we spotted a few heroic leaders and game-changers out there willing to act for real.”
WFS: Meeting the 2030 agenda is a huge goal, so, is meeting the ESG objectives only for big corporations?
Maggio: It shouldn’t be. Climate change affects everyone, so meeting ESG objectives should be on everyone’s agenda. Here is where disruption and innovation are critical.
At U-Earth, this was the challenge we set out to solve: how could we easily explain and demonstrate that biotech can play a major role in depolluting planet earth?
The plan has been to measure and report the depollution progress with transparency so that becoming a Pure Air Zone can be an easy win for any company/institution.
This was the reason behind developing the ESGverse®, a metaverse-like 3D world to visit and discover that a bright future is possible, where all companies can showcase their efforts to make the world a better place.
Referring to the pillars mentioned earlier:
- Awareness: We have already built this virtual world featuring building representations of the pioneering corporations, sports clubs, schools, and gyms and it will be launched in a matter of months.
Imagine entering the ESGverse® and visiting the stadium of the future where all the sustainability achievements, goals, and campaigns of your football property are displayed in a way that the fan can easily understand. - Engagement: Aside from the ESGverse®, we have assumed the creation of a space where fans can earn points by learning and reporting on their personal daily exposure to air pollution in their city. It’s called the U-App – a community mobile app where organisations can easily become more sustainable by fighting air pollution and individuals can ‘vote’ for a world with pure air. The possibilities are endless, and they can be adapted to each sport property’s strategy.
- Act: Sports brands will be able to cover topics shared with their fan community via the U-App and reward the most active members by gifting them with exclusive experiences and products (meet the athlete, come to the finals, win a signed t-shirt…). In essence, this relates to the concept of “utility” and brings clubs closer to their fans while showing real, measurable commitment to a better world.
Moreover, even events and conferences like WFS could be hosted in the ESGverse®!
Day two of the event saw the launch of the Spanish Association of Women, Executives and Sport (Asociación Española de Mujer, Ejecutivas y Deporte or AEMED).
AEMED is an initiative personally backed by WFS director Marian Otamendi who will serve as the organisation’s vice-president.
Otamendi, who was joined on stage by fellow Vice-President and Granada CF General Director Patricia Rodríguez, explained how AEMED would aim to ensure equal opportunities for women and men in sport.
“This Association aims to give greater visibility to women working in both business and sport, as well as helping pave the way for more women to enter the sports industry.
“This is why our core objectives include increasing the number of women who enrol on sports management courses and supporting female entrepreneurs looking to break into the sports sector.”
DAZN joins Common Goal movement
DAZN and Common Goal – who WFS proudly support as a partner – used the WFS Stage to announce a global partnership to jointly tackle some of the most vital social issues of our time.
The pair’s We can, so we must: uniting to deliver immediate and tangible social change through football panel saw the sports streaming platform reveal that they have become a Common Goal Impact Sponsor, making a multi-million dollar pledge alongside a 1% global employee time and resource commitment.
The partnership will focus on three fundamental and deep-rooted issues within and beyond football: gender equity, racial justice, and cultural diversity.
As well as using its content power DAZN will support several dedicated Common Goal initiatives that will directly reach tens of thousands of individuals – all laddering up to Common Goal’s long-term goal of positively impacting 100 million young people by 2030.
Among the initiatives supported will be: Common Ground, Global Goal 5 Accelerator, the Anti Racist Project, and Play Proud.
«The Common Goal movement has shown that football can only fulfil its true potential as a force for positive change for people and planet when we work together,” said Common Goal CEO and co-founder Jürgen Griesbeck.
«We look forward to getting to work on bringing the partnership to life and in doing so empowering girls, boys and young people around the world to fulfil their potential. We hope that DAZN’s leadership inspires other industry stakeholders to join the Common Goal movement.»
