How sustainability criteria are being integrated into club licensing regulations (Part 1: DFL & UEFA)

This series of articles explores how sports organisations in various regions of the world are paying increasing attention to the topic of sustainability (or ‘ESG’ - Environmental Social & Governance issues).^[1]  Part 1 below focuses on two of the first movers in the field of sustainability in sports: (i) the German Football League (DFL), and (ii) UEFA. The DFL was the first major national league to adopt sustainability criteria into their licensing regulations, while UEFA is the first governing body in football to do the same – so together they provide a good place to start.  The article will explain the nature of the criteria and how they compare, how the integration process has progressed to date, and what other sports organisations can learn:

• The DFL’s Sustainability Guidelines
  • Sanctions
• UEFA’s Sustainability Regulations
  • Sanctions
• How the DFL’s criteria compare to UEFA’s
• Broader lessons for sports organisations
  • The importance of UEFA’s elevation of ‘ESG strategy’ and ‘ESG officer’ to licence criteria, which are necessary to take part in European Club Football.
  • The potential difficulties of harmonising ESG Regulations and EU & State Law
  • Sponsorship
  • Integration with financial regulations: could ESG form a new business model for sports?