15 Dec Healthy Stadia Assessments underway for UEFA’s 2021 Club Competition Finals
As part of its health and wellbeing partnership in UEFA’s Social Responsibility Portfolio (2017-21), Healthy Stadia will once again take part in scheduled site visits to undertake assessments of venues for UEFA key club competition finals across the 2020-21 season focussing specifically on tobacco control, active travel and healthier catering options.
In late November, Healthy Stadia took part in a ‘virtual site visit’ to the Gamla Ullevi stadium based in Gothenburg that will host the Women’s Champions League Final on 16th May 2021. With an ‘on the ground’ site visit unviable owing to physical distancing restrictions, Healthy Stadia was given access to UEFA’s virtual site platform, VISTA.
The platform features an array of tools and image content that allows users to effectively navigate around all aspects of the stadium. As part of our assessment, Healthy Stadia reviewed site maps, the location of cycle locking facilities, no smoking signage inside the main stadium structure, and catering concessions at Gamla Ullevi.
Healthy Stadia then participated in a conference call with UEFA, the host venue and UEFA’s social responsibility partners CAFE and Colour Blind Awareness with a view to learning more about the operation of policies and practices relevant to health: active travel, no smoking, serving of alcohol inside the stadium, and the type of food and drink options available to fans at the Final.
The meeting revealed that Gamla Ullevi already has a particularly strong commitment to health promotion actions, including operation of a comprehensive tobacco-free policy at the stadium, and over 150 cycle locking points to encourage fans to cycle to the stadium on a matchday.
An initial overview report has been shared with UEFA and Gamla Ullevi events staff detailing recommendations on good practice in promoting health, including the use of social responsibility volunteers to help communicate the tobacco-free policy to fans attending the final.
To learn more about our health impact assessments and the range of advice and support available to club, stadia, leagues and UEFA Member Associations, please visit: https://healthystadia.eu/what-is-a-healthy-stadia-assessment/
Venues for UEFA Club Competition Finals in 2020/21 include: Istanbul (UEFA Champions League Final), Gothenburg (UEFA Women’s Champions League Final), Gdansk (UEFA Europa League Final), and Belfast (UEFA Super Cup).
