Sports events, especially football games, have a unique ability to inspire and ignite the passion of millions of fans worldwide. Therefore, it is essential to use these platforms to communicate the importance of environmental awareness and the need for compassion for all people. For instance, over the years, FIFA, the organization hosting the biggest football tournament in the world, has placed a strong emphasis on enhancing its environmental protection programs, including recycling and green building practices. This year’s World Cup host, Qatar, is continuing this tradition by giving an inclusive experience, putting sustainability plan into practice, using football as an approach in terms of both sports and social development and making everything accessible while keeping in mind all different sorts of people. These practices will set a new benchmark for social, human, economic and environmental development. Let’s have a look at a few initiatives that will give a distinctive experience to the fans and aims to make everyone feel welcomed, safe, and entertained later this year:
Sustainability:
With the intention of hosting a carbon-neutral tournament this year, Qatar has launched a number of sustainable development initiatives. All the eight stadiums are built from the ground up, and sustainable practices are used to reduce the amount of carbon that these projects emitted into the atmosphere. Stadiums are renowned for their environmentfriendly architecture since they implement all recycling strategies to cut down on unneeded waste. To create green spaces inside the stadiums, Qatar has also planted trees around them. To power many of the stadium’s features, solar energy plants have also been created at Al Kharsa’ah. Stadium 974, for instance, is completely demountable and can be utilized in other legacy projects around the world.
Accessibility:
The Supreme Committee of Delivery and Legacy has established an accessibility platform to make sure fans with impairments have a seamless and accessible experience. Thestadiums with accessibility features include the seating, bathrooms, changing rooms, concession stands and emergency. Additionally, the Supreme Committee has installed sensory rooms in multiple stadiums to create accessible experiences for fans with autism. The rooms are equipped with noise cancellation, soft furnishings, mood lighting, relaxing music and brightly colored sensory toys and equipment. These features are designed to help people manage their anxiety while enabling them to enjoy football games with their families and friends in a welcoming, calming, and inclusive environment.
Generation Amazing initiative:
The Generation Amazing community was established in 2010 amid Qatar’s successful bid for the FIFA World Cup in 2022 with the belief that football can change the world. Generation Amazing uses a football for development approach – type of football training on and off the pitch. Through the beautiful game, it teaches principles like gender equality and inclusivity, and life skills such as communication, organisation, teamwork, and leadership. By delivering sessions to school children for their skill and knowledge with an aim to take country forward, generation amazing focuses on international communities affected by poverty, unemployment, and social problems. Since 2010, Generation Amazing has set up 30 football pitches for underprivileged communities across the Middle East and Asia. Building on this, in 2020, they set up Generation Amazing Community Club (GACC) – with the first clubs to be launched in Tacloban (the Philippines) and Rurka Kalan (India). Generation Amazing has reached 500,000 people around the world – in more than 28 communities in Brazil, Haiti, India, Jordan, Lebanon, Nepal, Oman, Pakistan, the Philippines, Russia, Rwanda, Syria, and the UK.
