Gareth Bale urges football to tackle climate crisis with Pledge Ball initiative

Gareth Bale has partnered up with Mastercard to lend his voice to the ongoing battle against the climate crisis. 

The Welsh legend hung up his boots at the start of last year following a storied career at the top of the game that saw him win five Champions League titles while at Real Madrid. 

His old Los Blancos side take on Borussia Dortmund at Wembley in this year’s showpiece spectacle, with Jude Bellingham set to take centre stage for the Spanish giants as he faces his former club. 

Ahead of the game – the biggest in the club football calendar – Bale joined up with Mastercard and spoke about how football can make changes to help combat the global climate crisis. 

The former Tottenham forward spoke at a question and answer session at the launch of Mastercard’s Pledge Ball – a football made from recycled boots and engraved with promises by the game’s community to inspire collective action on sustainability. 

‘I’ve been lucky enough to achieve my goals in football, score a few too, and think it’s important that we all try to set personal goals for the things that are important to us,’ Bale said. 

‘It’s why I’ve given my pledge to the Mastercard Pledge Ball, and I hope the 450 million fans set to watch the final next week are inspired to do the same. If football has a superpower, it’s teamwork, and I think that’s exactly what our planet needs a bit of right now.’

He added: ‘The more people we can get buying into this, because it is such a massive issue. Never mind anything else – it’s important to get people to do these little changes. If we all do those one-per-cent-ers, if does add up to millions of people, and that’s the shift that we need.

‘We normally have a vegan day at home where we don’t eat meat. We have soy or oat milk, whatever the kids fancy that day. I think if everybody took those little baby steps one thing at a time, it really will make a massive difference in five-10 years time.’

It sometimes seems in the modern day – where World Cups are played across three different continents and clubs rack up air miles about as quickly as Erling Haaland can net a hat-trick – that football and the climate crisis are on a serious collision course. 

The previous Euros competition took place all across Europe, with teams such as Bale’s Wales playing four games in three different countries (Azerbaijan, Italy and Netherlands). 

Many at the time were deeply critical of the format, with perhaps unnecessary levels of travel adding to the increasing emissions of the sport as a whole, from production of merchandise in factories across the world to jetting off to Australia for a post-season friendly. 

It is estimated that football as a whole produces approximately the same level of carbon dioxide emissions as Denmark, some 30million tonnes. It is hard to see how the game – followed by almost half the planet – is not leaving a negative mark on the world. 

That being said, clubs are beginning to take action, with teams like Forest Green Rovers running on a carbon neutral plan, while recyclable materials are being used to create kits, while recycling in general is heartily encouraged at top level grounds, such as Brentford’s Gtech Community Stadium. 

‘There wasn’t a conversation when I first started playing it. I guess over the years, the more research has been done, and you can see the impact it’s having on the world,’ Bale adds.

‘At Tottenham, we were using plastic bottles. Even in the fridge we used to have these big bottles and then they went to little ones, and because people drink half and throw away [the rest] they went to small. Now it’s obviously not plastic bottles, they’re just these recyclable bottles that we had. 

‘So just that was a massive change, because of the amount of water an athlete needs to drink. Even on game days, there’s no plastic bottles. I know it doesn’t seem a lot, but if you think from under sevens all the way to the first team, it’s a lot of water in one day, never mind a year, or 10 years. 

‘It’s just been talked about so much and if someone were to make fun of me or something, I find that there’s already made an impact on them because they’re speaking about it. So it just takes people to have a little bit of a thick skin, take the laugh and hopefully just stay strong and that will make a difference in the future.’

The Pledge Ball, created in celebration of Mastercard’s 30 years of sponsorship of the world’s greatest football club competition, was inspired by Mastercard’s work with sustainability and sports charity Pledgeball for Champions Innovate