UEFA will plant 50,000 trees in Ireland to offset the carbon footprint of fans travelling to the host nations of Euro 2020.

This comes as part of a wider plan to plant 600,000 trees across the 12 host nations of the tournament.

The plan, which is to mark the 60th anniversary of the European Championships and to “leave a lasting legacy from the competition” was launched today by UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin.

As well as the trees planted, the Governing body of European football also announced that they will invest in gold standard renewable energy projects in partnership with the South Pole to offset the estimated 405,000 tonnes of carbon produced by fans and UEFA staff travelling to games in the tournament.

Announcing the plan, Aleksander Čeferin said that being able to have so many host nations means that no stadia need to be built to accommodate the number of matches, reducing the carbon emissions of the tournament.

“UEFA EURO 2020 is a celebration of European football that will happen right across the continent. The nature of the tournament means there are many benefits over a traditional one. In addition to being able to take the matches to more diverse communities across Europe, there is no need either to build a host of new stadia or the transport links that they need, which carry a huge environmental cost in concrete and other resources.

“But it also has a cost – with increased travel for fans to watch their teams play. UEFA takes its responsibilities on this seriously and it is right that we offset the carbon emissions that causes. Working with South Pole will help to build gold standard renewable energy projects, which will be of lasting value to the planet.

“In addition, we wanted to celebrate the 60 years of the European Championships and combining that with an environmental legacy is a logical choice. Some 600,000 trees will be planted – 50,000 in each of the 12 host countries. I believe this will help all those communities benefit from EURO 2020 having been played there.”

Ireland are joined by 11 other host nations of the tournament in which 50,000 trees each will be planted.

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Along with Ireland, Denmark, Hungary, the Netherlands, Romania, Scotland, and Spain will all host group stage and round of 16 matches.

Azerbaijan, Germany, Italy and Russia all had successful bids for group stage matches and quarter-finals. 

England will also see the same number of trees planted as they host the semi-finals and final of the tournemant. They will also host group stage and round of 16 matches at the expense of Belgium, who were successful in their bid to host those rounds initially, but were later removed from the list of hosts.

Each qualified host country will play a minimum of two matches at home. The draw for the final tournament, which will be played between June 12 and July 12, will be held on 30 November 2019.

If Ireland are to qualify from Group D of the tournament qualifiers, they will find out then who they face in their tournament pool.

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