Leicester City tops league table for most eco-friendly football fans

A survey of 100 fans from each club in the top flight were asked a range of questions about their eco-friendly habits – from recycling and reducing energy waste to how they travel – in order to crown a sustainable champion.

The Foxes came out on top with Fulham, Tottenham and Brighton filling out the rest of the top four. Rivals Liverpool and Manchester United grabbed the last two European qualification positions in the league.

However, it is mid-table mediocrity for some of the traditional ‘big six’ – as Arsenal, Manchester City, and Chelsea came ninth, tenth and thirteenth, respectively.

Facing the drop in the bottom three is Leeds, who prop up the table, Wolves and newly promoted Nottingham Forest.

Says Victoria Bacon, director at Smart Energy GB, which commissioned the league table:

“This new eco league table shows how fans of the clubs in England’s top flight are performing based on their sustainable habits.

“Some have a lot to improve on, but many are going above and beyond to be green when watching the beautiful game.

“While there are a few fanbases who are staring down the barrel of relegation when it comes to their eco behaviour, there are easy changes they can make to steer clear of the drop zone.”

Fans across the country are even taking steps to be more eco-friendly while cheering on their teams, with recycling packaging from matchday refreshments proving the most popular action.

Nearly a third (31 per cent) ensure they don’t leave lights on in an empty room while watching from home and 29 per cent will only boil the kettle with the amount of water they need during their half-time tea break.

When travelling to stadiums, public transport is the most popular way for supporters to get around, followed by carpooling with other fans.

Overall, 62 per cent believe the beautiful game should do more to become more sustainable.

Fans would like to see only recyclable packaging used in stadiums (32 per cent), solar panels on stadium roofs (31 per cent) and stadiums powered on clean energy (30 per cent).

A quarter (24 per cent) even want more locally sourced products available on the concourse in grounds and many like the idea of paperless ticketing (29 per cent) to reduce waste.

Interestingly, 60 per cent of fans also recognise their fellow supporters should also be doing more to reduce their emissions when watching their team play.

And 63 per cent of these think more incentives from clubs and the leagues would help encourage more fans to follow suit.