Match Day for Our Planet

Powering Community-led Climate Action through Football 

Access The Match Day for Our Planet Toolkit in English here and in Spanish here

Common Goal, in collaboration with Football Écologie France and Spirit of Football, is proud to launch Matchday for Our Planet, a practitioner’s toolkit designed to empower grassroots organisations in the intersection of sport, community engagement, and climate action.  

Developed with and for the Football for Good community, the toolkit equips community leaders, coaches, and NGOs to weave climate education into their everyday work — from youth training sessions to community outreach projects. 

The idea is simple: use football’s universal language to inspire local climate action and build resilient communities. 

At its heart, Matchday for Our Planet is about empowerment. The 80-page toolkit offers 11 interactive methods and games that bring together sport and sustainability — from storytelling and creative workshops to match-style activities that simulate the realities of a changing climate. 

The toolkit was developed by Spirit of Football e.V. (Germany) and Football Écologie France (France) for the Common Goal Community, with valuable contributions from Tiempo de Juego (Colombia), ISF (Cambodia), Love.fútbol (Mexico), Moving the Goalposts (Kenya), Play it Forward (Zambia), Fútbol Más (Spain), Fútbol con Corazón (Colombia), and Fundación Red Deporte (Spain), who helped enhance, test, and review the methodology to ensure its relevance across diverse local contexts. 

The project was born out of urgent need. A Common Goal survey of more than 200 member organisations found that 98% of them have experienced extreme weather in the past two years, and 67% reported damage to their sports facilities as a result. Yet fewer than 20% felt adequately trained to respond. 

Beyond raising awareness, Matchday for Our Planet invites participants to take tangible steps. Activities encourage organisations to identify local risks, engage communities in climate discussions, and design projects, from tree-planting drives to plastic-free matchdays, that can have a measurable environmental impact. 

Each module connects back to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), linking global ambitions to local realities. 

The toolkit is designed to be flexible: a coach can use a single activity during a training session, or an NGO can run the full programme as part of a community workshop. And while it’s rooted in football, many of the methods can be adapted for other sports. 

By turning every training pitch into a classroom for sustainability, Matchday for Our Planet shows that tackling climate change doesn’t have to start in a boardroom or a summit. It can start right where the game begins.