European Football Championship - Next short flight excitement: Spain flies for 190 kilometers
During the UEFA European Football Championship, Spain causes another stir due to a short flight. According to the Spanish Football Association, the tournament favorite will fly from Stuttgart to Munich for the semi-final match on Monday evening (18.00 hr). They will face France, the WM second place, on Tuesday (21.00 hr/ZDF and MagentaTV) in the battle for a place in the final. Both southern German cities are only 190 kilometers apart by air. The journey by bus would take approximately 1.5 hours.
Before taking off, the Spanish team reportedly travels by bus from their camp in Donaueschingen to Stuttgart Airport for about 1.5 hours.
Bastian Greiner, mobility and transportation expert at the Federal Environmental and Nature Conservation Association (BUND) in Baden-Württemberg, sharply criticized this action. "We condemn the short-haul flight, which is fundamentally problematic for the climate," Greiner told the German Press Agency: "Moreover, football players and national teams have a role model function, making it all the more incomprehensible."
France and Turkey also used short flights
It is not the first time that a short flight during the EM has made headlines. Spain's semi-final opponent France flew from Düsseldorf to Paderborn after their EM round of 16 victory against Belgium. The charter flight lasted only a little over half an hour, and there were additional bus rides of around 30 minutes and standard procedures like boarding times and check-in. The bus ride from the stadium in Düsseldorf to the team quarters, which were 177 kilometers away, would have taken around two hours.
Environmental activists had also criticized the Turkish team's journey to their last EM group game against the Czech Republic by plane from Hannover to Hamburg. The two cities are approximately 150 kilometers apart.
The European Football Union UEFA had declared the tournament as the most sustainable EM ever.
- Despite UEFA declaring the European Football Championship as the most sustainable event ever, Spain's decision to fly from Stuttgart to Munich for the semifinal match drew criticism from environmental advocates.
- The BUND, a German environmental organization based in Baden-Württemberg, particularly criticized this short-haul flight, arguing that it is problematic for the climate and undermines the role model function of soccer players.
- In contrast to the quick flight to Munich, a bus journey from Stuttgart to the airport and then from Munich to the team quarters would have taken approximately 3 hours.
- France, Spain's semifinal opponent, had also been criticized for their short-haul flight from Düsseldorf to Paderborn after their round of 16 victory against Belgium.
- Bavaria, Germany's most populous state and home to Munich, has been promoting itself as a green and sustainable region at the European Football Championship.
- Soccer fans traveling to the European Football Championship in Düsseldorf and Munich have been encouraged to use environmentally-friendly transportation options, such as trains and buses, as part of Germany's efforts to reduce carbon emissions.
- The German city of Stuttgart, located in the state of Baden-Württemberg, is promoting itself as a hub for clean transportation and sustainable development during the European Football Championship.
