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Udinese's Bluenergy Stadium has already made headlines this year over its environmental ambitions, and now the venue is set for another milestone when I Bianconeri welcome Cagliari on 19th September in what will be Serie A's first match to apply UEFA's new Football Event Sustainability Manual.
The occasion builds on work already under way to green up the stadium itself, with the club now looking to take those efforts beyond the building and into how an entire matchday is run under the banner “Play for Sustainability – Everyone on the pitch for the planet.”
Bluenergy Stadium set for landmark green fixture
Udinese will become the first club anywhere to apply UEFA's newly published Football Event Sustainability Manual to a competitive league match.
The framework, launched this year alongside European Leagues, gives clubs a structured way to cut the environmental impact of hosting games, and Udinese are working with UEFA, Lega Serie A, the FIGC and Italy's environment ministry to put it into practice.
The stadium already has more than 2,400 solar panels on its roof, generating around 1.1 million kilowatt hours of renewable energy a year. Meanwhile, fans are being encouraged to use public transport and bicycles rather than drive, with waste management, recycling and more sustainable catering also built into the day.
Meanwhile, fans are being encouraged to use public transport and bike routes rather than drive, with waste sorting, recycling and more sustainable catering also built into the day.
Rather than treat it as a one-off, Udinese plan to track figures on things like travel, energy consumption, waste and turnout, then publish the findings once the event is over.
Chief commercial officer Magda Pozzo described the aim as building something ongoing, testing ideas each year and refining them based on what the numbers show rather than declaring one match “solved.” Lega Serie A are said to be filming a documentary around the fixture to help spread the lessons elsewhere in Italian football.
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Plenty of sustainability announcements in football amount to little more than good PR, but Udinese's data-driven approach, backed by a UEFA framework, feels more substantial. If the numbers stack up, other Serie A clubs could soon follow their lead.