Extreme weather: two approaches from French and English football
Two news stories in a fortnight illustrate the different paths being taken
As Europe has sweltered under record temperatures, two football and climate news stories in the past fortnight point in very different directions.
In French football
By 2030, more than 300,000 hours of football practice in France will be directly threatened by extreme heat. Around 100,000 matches will be affected between June and September, and “nearly half of these (46,000) would involve youth categories, from U6 to U19.” In addition, “a third of football pitches in France are located in flood zones, where 246,503 matches take place each season”.
These are just some of the figures from a vulnerability study commissioned by the French Football Federation , and presented to them in July, as reported by L’Équipe. According to the newspaper, the Federation “has set itself the objective of presenting its adaptation strategy and protocols during the second half of 2026.” L’Équipe goes on to say that the Federation describes the study as a direct application of the national adaptation plan for sport published by the French Government in 2024. That plan sets out that vulnerability studies will be built on France’s national warming trajectory for adaptation: global warming of 2°C by 2050, translating to 2.7°C in mainland France.
In English football
In the same week, The Guardian reported that in England, drought and record heat have led the Norfolk and Suffolk league to move the season kick-off to the end of August. The piece ends: “The FA does not hold figures on the number of leagues that have been forced to postpone the start of next season because of the drought. It said it was a matter of individual leagues and county football associations.”
The contrast here is clear. One governing body has commissioned detailed analysis of what extreme weather will do to its pitches, and set itself a deadline to act on it. The other has said it’s none of their business and the numbers belong to somebody else. This approach in English football should not be seen in isolation. The wider context is a cause for concern for all of us who love our football.
Public bodies and governing bodies in English football
It is now a year since the UK Government published research it had commissioned on the impacts of extreme weather on grassroots sport, putting the annual cost at £320 million at today's level of warming. This is the first attempt by any country to put a financial figure on it and should have been a spring-board to further action. But in the twelve months since it was published, there has been no statement or speech about it from a Minister, no known policy follow-up from the Department, and no reference or response to it from The FA.
The only mention by the Government finally came this July, when a Minister in the Lords was responding by letter to Peers who raised this research. They acknowledged in passing, and without citing the figures, that it is “an important reminder of the financial toll climate change is already taking, underscoring the need for multifaceted action on both climate adaptation and mitigation.”
During this year of silence there have been a number of important developments that add to the need for urgent action in the UK. The Climate Change Committee’s adaptation report places sport within cultural heritage, a system it rates as requiring “critical investigation” - its category for high risk with a poor evidence base. On the evidence above, the categorisation applies to sport at least as strongly.
Alongside this, Defra has said the whole of Government must now plan “on the basis of a minimum of 2°C of warming by 2050.” The same research for DCMS puts the annual cost at £415 million under a 2°C rise - a 30% increase. This is under the research’s own ‘central scenario’. Its ‘high scenario’ puts costs at £835 million now, rising to over £1 billion under a 2°C rise.
Scratch below the surface and the numbers in the research could understate the problem. The modelling covers intense rainfall and flooding only. The report is explicit that extreme heat was excluded because “evidence is currently limited on its impact on sport in England.” The extreme weather hazard that stopped the season in Norfolk and Suffolk sits outside the established figures entirely. What France has just measured is what England has not.
The gap runs beyond this Government-commissioned report. Consider the most-quoted statistic on adverse weather and English grassroots football: 120,000 matches lost a season, referenced in the DCMS-commissioned research mentioned above and published this time last year, and also referenced as recently as May 2026 by the UK Climate Change Committee. It comes from a single sentence of oral evidence to the DCMS Committee in March 2023, when the Chair of The FA, Debbie Hewitt, told MPs: “We have something like 120,000 games a season cancelled because the pitches are not playable.”
Twenty-two months later, in January 2025, three organisations gave written evidence to the same committee’s Game On inquiry. The FA and the Football Foundation both put the figure at 100,000, from poor pitch quality. Sport England gave 62,500, caused by extreme weather. Separately, the Football Foundation’s 2023/24 accounts said “150,000 games a season played on grass pitches get called off due to bad weather” - a figure in circulation since 2018 and usually attributed to pitch quality rather than weather.
So there is a basic entry-level question English football has not yet answered clearly or consistently: how many games each season are affected by adverse weather?
The FA has twice said it would fix this. Its 2023/24 accounts described “a data-driven project on the impact of weather in 2024-25,” and noted that “robust data is needed to draw accurate conclusions and develop tailored mitigation measures.” Nothing was published in the 2024/25 period, and the 2024/25 accounts carry no project, no timeframe and no deliverable. What remains is a statement saying: “We are exploring data and insights to strengthen the environmental sustainability of the grassroots game. This includes consideration of the impacts of extreme weather.” Both entries appear as “Proposed.” We are over half way through 2026 and what has become of the work is not clear.
This matters for what The FA does currently report on climate risks. Its accounts identify ten physical climate risks. Two are published, and neither was assessed as significant - the only rating that triggers escalation for further mitigation or action. With the lack of robust data being an acknowledged gap, this assessment can only tell us so much about what is happening to the grassroots game.
This lack of progress on climate adaptation sits within the context of the FA’s 2023 sustainability strategy, Playing for the Future, which contains no objective, impact area or action on adaptation or resilience anywhere in the document. The review of that strategy, in 2025, adds one item on adaptation: a commitment to continue publishing the climate disclosures The FA is already legally required to produce. It also mentions an on-site climate risk assessment at St George’s Park in November 2025. And that’s it.
What happens next
The French Federation commissioned its study within the context of the 2024 Government National Adaptation Plan for Sport, itself part of an overall national adaptation plan. That plan is already being applied regionally: in January the Centre-Val de Loire region published the first regional application of that plan, produced by regional government with thirty sporting leagues including the regional football league, finding that half the region’s football pitches will gain two dry months a year at 2°C of warming.
In July, the UK Government said that its “National Adaptation Programme, due to be published in 2028, [is] where specific consideration will be given to sport facilities, participation and sporting events’ adaptation measures.” If The FA were to wait for the Government programme to be complete before putting its own adaptation plan in place, it could mean it is 2030 before we see a comprehensive approach from football. Clearly that would be too long to wait, and efforts need to be accelerated.
In the meantime, four routes may contribute to our understanding of the scale and impact of adverse weather on football in England, and inform what approach and actions to take next.
Firstly, Sport England has said it is “developing a report, which should be available by late summer, looking at the hazards caused to sport and physical activity by a changing climate.” It has also committed that “by March 2027 we’ll also co-develop with the sector a climate adaptation and resilience vision for the sector, supported by a delivery strategy”. While neither Sport England nor UK Sport are currently part of the Government Adaptation Reporting that a large number of public bodies report under, this work should be an important contribution.
Secondly, the Independent Football Regulator is due to publish its draft State of the Game report later this year. The terms of reference for that report allow the IFR to look beyond the professional game to the wider football ecosystem, including grassroots football. And on climate risks, the IFR has said it will “consider this further as part of our assessment of systemic resilience.” What level of detail it will apply to this work is open to question, though recent Financial Conduct Authority material on physical climate risk already affecting insurance availability and lending decisions strengthens the case for it to do so.
Thirdly, the French Football Federation says it will publish its adaptation strategy and protocols before the end of the year. This will be the first from a national football association that I am aware of, and a test of whether a vulnerability study translates into anything operational. That has the potential to provide important lessons for English football.
And fourthly, UEFA, which has meaningful mitigation work under way, has no adaptation or resilience strategy, or guidance to national bodies at all. That approach seems simply untenable, and while there is no news of anything in the offing, it is a key organisation to watch for further work, along with work emerging from other national bodies. For instance, Welsh football’s Project Chwarae is testing alternative seasonal structures in light of the high number of postponements to adverse weather.
In summary
French football has a government plan for sport, a governing body study, regional analysis already under way, and a strategy due within months. English football has a government study sitting on a shelf, no robust data from its governing body, and no signs of any plan in the offing.
“The public is concerned that we are unprepared for climate change,” said the Chair of the Adaptation Committee at the UK Climate Change Committee earlier this year. When it comes to English football, the governing body and public bodies are unprepared, and anyone who cares about the game should be concerned at how little is being done. Meanwhile, left unaddressed, the costs will build. The case for investing to prevent them is stronger than the case for waiting. Where that investment comes from in football is a question for another piece.
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Fran James (he/him)
Football and Climate
info@footballandclimate.org
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