On Monday 2nd March, #PlayGreen was featured in an article by #sportanddev. Curious? Find more about the article here!

On 29-30 October, an Erasmus+ Sport collaborative partnership project, led by Associació Ecoserveis (Spain) in partnership with the football federations of Malta, Estonia, the flemish Region of Belgium and ENGSO as partners, PlayGreen, had its second meeting in Tallinn, Estonia, hosted by the Estonian Football Association. The meeting was also attended by six international volunteers from the newly formed 'Green Team'. Thanks to an ice-breaking activity both the partners and Green Team members got to know each other and their interests. Then, the Green Team members were introduced to the aims of the project as well as and the tasks they needed to fulfill in their countries to support the mission to lower the environmental impact of sports competitions and make them greener and more sustainable. The meeting agenda also included a workshops to prepare a communication campaign to help the Green Team to bring more volunteers into the project’s cause and raise awareness about the project aims through various communication channels. Partners were also mentored and on how to engage their Green Team volunteers, who will later be tasked to develop a ‘Green Football League’ in their respective countries. On the partner’s side, a great discussion took place on how to engage and mentor volunteers. In addition, thanks to the PlayGreen tool created under the project scope,  the Green Team and project partners explored the potential impacts that sports events have on the environment, and brainstormed ideas on how to reduce such impacts. Partners also agreed on the way the mentoring would be done which will follow the same logic as the green tool and be divided in four phases: analysis, planning, implementation and evaluation. In each phase partners will develop at least one workshop and one meeting with the Green Team. this was key since it is going to be the basis of the methodology to be used and transferred to other sport organizations.The team was also given the opportunity to play walking football, one of the most popular forms of football in Estonia and get to know each other in an active and fun way. Browse through the gallery by clicking on the arrows. (Photo credits: Gertrud Alatare) The second day kicked off with a creative task. PlayGreeners developed a video to launch the Green Team communication campaign and raise awareness about the project-. The idea of the workshop was to cooperate as a team and all the members contributed to create a video between all partners. This showed all of us that having teams from different countries does enreach the project. Green Team members then had a tour around Tallinn, while partners continued their work going through each work package and discussing tasks and how to move forward with the project outputs that will benefit any sport organization willing to create sustainable sport events. The next project meeting will take place in mid 2020. Until then, the football association project partners and their Green Teams will be busy with organising their Green Football Leagues. Ecoserveis and ENGSO will also provide mentoring and support throughout the next few months, so that our Green Team members feel empowered and confident in undertaking climate actions through sports. For more information about PlayGreen and for joining our efforts to establish a network of sports organisations that are interested in environmental sustainability, visit the PlayGreen website. Authors: Niki Koutrou/Dirk Falken Edit: Mariann Bardocz-Bencsik/Cristina Bajet

How can the environment be utilised to promote active citizenship and attract new volunteers into sport? PlayGreen, an Erasmus+ Sport project, aims to answer this question. PlayGreen’s successful kick-off meeting was held in Malta on 27-28 of March 2019. The project aims to create volunteering opportunities for young people focused on sport and the environment through the development of an innovative volunteering format. To achieve this, PlayGreen hopes to create a methodology for greener sport events and develop a European network of organisations that will be able to enhance sustainability in grassroots sports through volunteering programmes and sharing of good practices. The project includes six partners, which will work together to provide mentoring opportunities for young volunteers to empower them in their journey of raising environmental awareness through sports and in the process become active citizens. The project partners are: Ecoserveis - Project Leader (Spain), ENGSO- the European Sport NGO (Pan-European/Sweden), Malta Football Association-1900 (Malta), Futbols (Latvia), Eesti Jalgpall (Estonia), Voetbal Vlaanderen (Belgium) The activities of the project will not only be done on European level and on the level of football, but extending its scope beyond football to any other sport in Europe and beyond. To date, most sport volunteering programmes in Europe have been focused on social inclusion, equality, intercultural exchange or other social-based approaches. On the other hand, the topic of protecting the environment through sports has not yet been tackled in depth. Nonetheless, volunteering programmes based on the environment have been proven as a great tool to enhance citizenship commitment to tackling social challenges and has been a key driver to behavioural changes. For example, the effects of climate change increasingly influence people to become more aware of the need to act and to engage in actions towards environmental protection and sustainable lifestyles. Therefore, considering how climate change awareness has been proven a powerful motivation to change people’s behaviour, we believe that creating volunteering opportunities based on the environmental impact of sports could attract new target groups that may not yet be deeply involved in sports, but could integrate them in their daily life as another dimension of living a sustainable life. Similarly, sport clubs and organisations in Europe suffer from a general decrease of their volunteers, who are the backbone for their sustainability. Generally, volunteers devote their time in something they believe in. Thus, PlayGreen could provide a new pathway for individuals to volunteer and participate in sport by contributing to the civil society movement raising environmental awareness. The project partners will work together to attract, involve and motivate volunteers to develop a ‘green’ football league, as a pilot case to test a new volunteering format based on the environment that will be then adapted to other sports. As four out of the six partners work directly with football clubs, the project will offer opportunities to: 1) explore ways to involve a new group of people into volunteering and participating in sports, 2) increase environmental awareness in sport at grassroots level and 3) promote the development of green and leadership skills of volunteers that will be useful in their personal and professional life in the future. The project’s kick-off meeting was hosted by the Malta Football Association. The meeting included a visit to the Malta-Spain UEFA Euro 2020 qualifier, which was kindly organised by the hosts. The first day of the kick-off was dedicated for the partners to get to know each other, to discuss their organisations’ best practices in attracting, motivating and empowering volunteers in sports and the environment, to create mutual understanding about the project and the roles of each partner in its delivery. The day continued with workshops on sports volunteering that ENGSO has prepared and delivered and on environmental volunteering delivered by Ecoserveis. The seminar materials will then be used to develop a mentoring toolkit for the young volunteers of the project. The second day commenced with a presentation and discussion about the communication and dissemination plan for the project that ENGSO is leading as well as a planning session for the first year of the project. Throughout this first year, the partners with the support of ENGSO will launch a campaign to attract volunteers in each partner country who will then be tasked with the goal of developing a ‘green league’ and attract an additional number of volunteers to participate in the league and their environmental campaign. A guide on environmental volunteering in sports, a research study, strategies, best practices and videos on engaging volunteers and greening sports events - which will disseminate the project and its findings - will be produced. An informal lunch for the partners at the premises of the Malta Football Association concluded a successful and productive kick-off meeting. The next PlayGreen meeting will take place in Estonia in October 2019, at which some of the project’s young volunteers from each country will be invited to attend and take part in a mentoring programme. Until then, all partners will be busy in developing their communication campaigns in attracting volunteers and strategies to bridge sports and the environment to develop skilled and active young Europeans. To keep updated on the project, follow our Facebook page and Twitter account.

For a sustainable future in sport Start here > Current Online Activities > About Play Green The Play Green project is a UEFA-endorsed initiative dedicated to ensure a sustainable future in sport in Europe. With the support of the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union, six organisations have partnered up to raise awareness and build capacities about environmental sustainability in sport all across Europe. As key outcomes the project will be a study on volunteering, a pan-European volunteering concept as well as a mentoring toolkit about sustainable volunteering in sport, free to use for everyone. Find out more information about our aims below. More about the project > Play Green is led by: Associació Ecoserveis Voetball Flanderen Malta Football Association Estonian Football Federation ​ ENGSO - The European Sport NGO More about the team > Our partners Latest news Events Upcoming Past > More activities The PlayGreen Kick-off Meeting in Malta 27-29 March 2019 Follow us on find us under #Playgreen More Social Media > Follow us on Stay informed Sign up here to receive the latest news around PlayGreen and/or join our network of sustainable sport organizations Sign me up for the newsletter Sign me up for the network of sustainable sport organisations Sign me up for both the newsletter and the network I accept terms & conditions View terms Subscribe Thank you for submitting! We will keep you updated according to your preferences! Should you wish to withdraw your subscription, please send a short message through the "contact" section of this website. ​ Thank you, the PlayGreen Team! > The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it. Robert Swan

Stay informed or join us! If your organisation would like to stay informed about PlayGreen or join our growing network of sustainable sport organizations: Please fill out the form below and we will contact you about any updates and opportunities to engage. > Stay informed network Join our Subscribe to our newsletter ​ We invite you to sign up to our Play Green newsletter. By doing so, we will keep you in the loop during the full duration of the project (until December 2020) and you will receive the latest news and updates about our events, activities and everything else about PlayGreen. ​ More specifically, you will receive: created for more sustainable sport events Information about the tools Information about our in Spain, Belgium, Malta and Estonia as well as our at the end of 2020 in Brussels, BE national multiplier events final conference Q&As on how to implement the PlayGreen method about our progress, meetings and other news General updates > The Play Green network of sustainable (sport) organizations > One of our goals in Play Green is to create a network of (sport) organization being interested in further optimizing the environmental sustainability of grassroots sport events in Europe and pushing forward general environmental sustainable developments in sport. s If you like to take part in this initiative and stay in touch also beyond the duration of the project, please feel invited to join our Play Green network. ​ Beyond subscribing the newsletter you will: ​ Receive further opportunities for capacity sharing, engagement in discussions and contributions about this topic beyond the project life cycle Be part of a growing community seeking sustainable and enduring change in sport in Europe Help to further spread, develop and enhance the methodology developed in this project ​ ​ Stay updated and sign up here Sign me up for the newsletter Sign me up for the network of sustainable sport organisations Sign me up for both the newsletter and the network I accept terms & conditions View terms Subscribe Thank you for submitting! We will keep you updated according to your preferences! Should you wish to withdraw your subscription, please send a short message through the "contact" section of this website. Thank you, the PlayGreen Team!

Events and Activities Have a peek at what has happened already and keep yourself updated about our upcoming events and activities below > To come - UEFA Football Associations PlayGreen Implementation Upcoming Events Past Activities The Kickoff Meeting in Malta from 27-29 March 2019 >