Respect your health: No tobacco at UEFA club finals

Active and passive smoking, especially initiated in childhood, is associated with a wide range of health issues including psychological distress, increased heart rate, reduced physical resistance to effort, lifelong addiction and increased premature mortality risks from non-communicable diseases.

In line with it’s the UEFA Football Sustainability Strategy 2030, we reiterate our commitment to protecting and safeguarding health and well-being through football activities across all age groups and through awareness-raising activities on non-communicable diseases.

Tobacco use is the largest preventable cause of premature death and chronic disease and causes over 700,000 deaths in Europe every year. Second-hand smoke is directly responsible for the deaths of at least 80,000 people per year and presents a specific danger to children and those with underlying cardiovascular issues. There are over 7,000 chemicals released into the environment from use of a cigarette – 70 of which are known carcinogens. Smoking is not only harmful for the health but also for the environment as 4.5 trillion cigarette butts are discarded in the environment each year and poisoning beaches, water and soil.

To learn more about UEFA’s work related to health and well-being, you can also access the UEFA RESPECT Report 2021/22, which presents the actions and engagements across the strategic work on all sustainability topics.