Following a plea by Campaign for Better Transport (CfBT) concerning sustainability, the Football Association (FA) has confirmed coach travel will be used by the England team within the host country of Switzerland for the Women’s Euro 2025.
In an open letter, CfBT urged the England team to use rail, coach or other sustainable travel means rather than flying when in Switzerland for the tournament, which begins tomorrow (2 July).
“Football, and in particular the Lionesses, can play an important role in the fight against climate change, and set an example by travelling in ways which benefit physical and mental health and enhance communities,” reads the letter. “We propose to use your influence as a role model, both on and off the pitch, to help change people’s ways of thinking and travel behaviour and lead by example when it comes to the England Women’s team’s transport choices.”
The FA says coach travel will be used to transport players to the training ground and matches.
CfBT highlighted in the letter that some teams at Euro 2024 travelled by coach and rail rather than air to Germany last year.
However, The FA says flying was the only practical option for them in this instance, given that their last friendly at home against Jamaica took place on 29 June and the requirement for teams to be in Switzerland at least five days before their first match. In the case of England, this is against France on 5 July.
As part of its environmental strategy tournament organiser UEFA requires teams to travel by coach or rail within Switzerland.
Last year, CfBT campaigned for Premier League teams to travel more sustainably after a BBC study had shown that, during a two-month period, teams in that division took 81 short-haul domestic flights to and from 100 matches.
