At the declarative level, UEFA is taking consecutive actions to enable it to achieve the goals set out in the 2030 UEFA Football Sustainability Strategy and more recently Strategy 2024-2030 ?????? ??? ???????.
Among the key stakeholders in this strategy are national football associations and clubs. To ensure their commitment, UEFA uses mechanisms that put emphasis on formal requirements. These include setting social responsibility measures for clubs in the European competitions or an obligation to have a societal responsibility strategy for national football associations as a condition to access financial resources (HatTrick).
But how do clubs comply with those requirements?
Formal requirements regarding social responsibility in Polish football
As a result of UEFA’s activities, in autumn 2023 the Polish Football Association (PZPN) adopted their first ever strategic plan in the field, called the Strategy for Sustainable Development and Social Responsibility in PZPN for 2023-2027.
One of the direct consequences of the UEFA regulations regarding international competition and PZPN strategy is the introduction of the Social Responsibility Criteria in Football as a part of the licensing process of the Polish Football Association in the Ekstraklasa, 1st League (the highest and second highest men’s league) and the Women’s Ekstraliga (the highest women’s league) starting from the 2023/2024 season.
Therefore, Ekstraklasa, 1 League and Women’s Ekstraliga clubs must, among other requirements, implement a social responsibility strategy in accordance with the 2030 UEFA Football Sustainability Strategy and relevant UEFA guidelines. Implementing the social responsibility strategy in the three leagues was defined as a mandatory criterion itself (B). If a club does not meet any of the B criteria, it is subject to the Polish Football Association’s Control Measures, but is still entitled to receive a licence and a UEFA licence. However, undertaking some of the issues covered by a social responsibility strategy, such as having a policy against racism and discrimination or children safeguarding, are deemed A criteria, that is ‘indispensable’.
How realistic is the implementation of a social responsibility strategy in Polish football clubs?
Throughout the last three months, we have been publishing the most recent reports on the responsibility of professional football clubs in Poland, which we annually prepare on behalf of Sportimpakt and the Institute for Sport Governance foundation. With reference to Ekstraklasa, the study has been published for the sixth consecutive season.
The latest reports indicate how clubs in the top football leagues in Poland perform in relation to specific issues, such as those defined in the licensing process: equality and inclusion, antidiscrimination and antiracism policies, and environmental protection. Changes regarding the involvement regarding particular principles of responsibilities throughout the last five seasons in the Ekstraklasa are presented below.
| pillar of responsibility | principle | 2022/23 | 2021/22 | 20/21 | 19/20 | 18/19 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 2021/22 | 20/21 | 19/20 | 18/19 | ||
| society | sport for all promotion | 61% | 45% | 47% | 58% | 55% |
| promoting health/health prevention/health-promoting behaviors | 44% | 28% | 42% | 40% | 33% | |
| healthy environment for sporting events | 4% | 2% | 2% | 2% | 2% | |
| promoting education | 51% | 24% | 46% | 53% | 53% | |
| involvement in local development | 56% | 30% | 54% | 63% | 55% | |
| using the power of the sports club’s influence in its environment | 57% | 53% | 68% | 66% | 63% | |
| volunteering | 49% | 42% | 28% | 39% | 47% | |
| counteracting undesirable behavior | 19% | 8% | 10% | 16% | 17% | |
| promotion of gender balance | 26% | 13% | 27% | 6% | 5% | |
| availability and adaptation of events to the needs of all fans | 44% | 39% | 46% | 53% | 63% | |
| promotion of fair play | 15% | 7% | 10% | 17% | 21% | |
| promoting professional development of employees and volunteers | 42% | 30% | 35% | 34% | 35% | |
| mechanisms for protecting health and safeguarding children and adolescents | 13% | 13% | 9% | 24% | 24% | |
| dual career mechanisms | 42% | 35% | 42% | 52% | 50% | |
| environment | effective management of natural resources | 9% | 6% | 6% | 0% | 0% |
| education on reducing environmental impact | 13% | 6% | 21% | 17% | 15% | |
| promotion of alternative means of transport for sporting events | 51% | 43% | 52% | 48% | 44% | |
| waste reduction and segregation | 4% | 4% | 2% | 0% | 0% | |
| the role of environmental impact in the organization’s activities | 12% | 10% | 1% | 1% | 1% | |
| governance | transparent ownership structure, management board and supervisory board | 44% | 35% | 36% | 40% | 39% |
| diverse composition of the management board | 9% | 9% | 4% | 10% | 13% | |
| a clear vision of development | 19% | 8% | 9% | 0% | 0% | |
| transparency | 54% | 44% | 49% | 35% | 42% | |
| rules of conduct (e.g. Code of Ethics) | 11% | 14% | 16% | 5% | 3% | |
| transparency of the academy | 68% | 69% | 68% | 71% | 69% |
Accordingly, in the 1 League:
- In the 1 League, only five (out of 18) organisations take any action to counteract undesirable behaviour and promote desirable social attitudes. Only a single club is involved in proactive education or programmes that aim to fight racism.
- Four clubs provide information on mechanisms to protect the health and safety of children and adolescents involved in the training process, yet only one is actively involved in partnership with an external organisation specialising in the subject.
- Only a single club reduces its impact on the environment through the effective management of natural resources. Two organisations provide education on reducing environmental impact.
To put it briefly, clubs rarely comply with the social responsibility criteria. Even those that are defined as obligatory (A) in the licensing process, such as counteracting discrimination or safeguarding children, are sporadic.
Thinking about societal responsibility from a strategic perspective is even scarcer. Only three Ekstraklasa clubs had their CSR strategies published in the 2023/2024 season, while none of the clubs in the 1 League published such document.
Licence requirements and their implementation in Ekstraliga Women’s clubs 2022/23
In December 2023, we also published the first analysis of the responsibility of Women’s Ekstraliga clubs for the 2022/23 season. Similarly to their men’s counterparts, it turned out that none of the clubs had a published social responsibility strategy and that some of the clubs’ representatives were generally unaware of the need to have a similar document.
However, applying almost the same requirements to women’s Ekstraliga clubs as to professional men’s football leagues does seem to be an exaggeration.
The women’s Ekstraliga is not a professional league, which means that it is managed by the Polish Football Association. This also means that clubs most often operate in the form of associations, and many of them have budgets of approximately one million zlotys (about 200 thousand euros).
In practice, these are semiprofessional organisations where, for example, the management board operates on a voluntary basis, and where only people in the sports department are employed. As a result, most organisations are small entities that focus their resources primarily on the sporting dimension of their work. Without external help, which they have not received, their potential to build a responsibility strategy is doubtful.
The future of responsibility in Polish Football Clubs
Is there no way to achieve „greater” responsibility in the Polish football clubs?
The Polish example serves well in terms of challenges in implementing a one-size-fits-all approach to social responsibility in Europe. It also illustrates that to formally fulfil the UEFA strategy, a number of shallow initiatives might be undertaken in Europe that do not fit the purpose and are mainly just a box-ticking exercise.
The main message is that licensing requirements are not enough to promote responsibility and sustainability in organisations. A system that „demands” but provides little support apparently does not work in the context of the Women’s Ekstraliga (and broadly, in Polish football), where the licensing process in relation to football’s responsibility seems not to be even a formality. While in the Ekstraklasa introduction of the societal responsibility criteria might in fact lead to more widespread responsiblity-related reflection in the clubs in a long run, at this point meeting the (formally obligatory) requirements is more than questionable. Additional actions, as well as a rethinking of the current approach, are needed to ensure that the whole process of implementing football responsibility is not merely window dressing.