This passionate football advocate and founder of Football For Future has spent the past six years at the intersection of the world’s game and the fight against climate change.

Last week, Elliot Arthur-Worsop and his team released a beautifully designed, groundbreaking climate report—centered around the 2026 World Cup—that connects football’s global reach with urgent environmental action.

The project offers tangible solutions for everyone—from grassroots clubs to elite organizations—showing how the sport can not only adapt to a warming planet but also inspire the movement to protect it.

*Interview has been edited for brevity and clarity

Q&A with Elliot Arthur-Worsop: Saving the Game, Saving the Planet

Q: To start, could you tell me a bit about your background and how you first got into football?

Elliot:
I’ve loved football for as long as I can remember. It wasn’t something that was forced on me by my dad as soon as I could stand on my own two feet — it came naturally. My first inspiration came from playing on the school playground and, of course, watching Arsenal’s Invincibles. That was the first team I ever really supported — with players like Gilberto Silva, Sol Campbell, Robert Pires, Thierry Henry, José Antonio Reyes… you name it. That era really lit the spark for me.

Then, as I got more into football, one of my mum’s friend’s husbands offered to take me to a Portsmouth game. My dad overheard and wasn’t having it — he’d been a big football fan himself, a Brighton season-ticket holder before meeting my mum. When they settled down, his football-going took a backseat.

As soon as he heard I was about to go to my first game — and it wasn’t Brighton — he immediately reapplied for his season ticket and took me to the Withdean Stadium instead. Back then, it was nicknamed the Theatre of Trees, a cheeky contrast to Old Trafford’s Theatre of Dreams. It was basically an old athletics track with temporary stands around it, eventually holding about 8,000 seats.

That became my first season ticket. I completely fell in love — not just with football, but with Brighton itself. We were a small, community club, bouncing up and down the leagues. From time to time, we’d draw a big team in the FA Cup or League Cup, and those matches were always magical.

To have now seen Brighton promoted to the Premier League and even play across Europe… 10-year-old Elliot would be pinching himself.

Q: What about playing? Did you ever dream of going pro, or was it more about being a fan?

Elliot:
Oh, I was obsessed with playing football. I played as much as I possibly could. I was captain of my school team for a while and played for my local club, Worthing Dynamos.

I was an attacking midfielder — kind of like a mix between Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard, maybe even a right-footed Zidane if I’m being generous to myself! Basically, a goal-scoring nuisance in the middle of the park.

But as I got older, things changed. I got a pub job on weekends, started going out a bit more after turning 18, and playing football slowly took a backseat. Once you fall out of the routine, it’s hard to keep up — training during the week, matches on weekends, staying fit. It’s a big commitment.

Injuries didn’t help either. Over the years, they’ve been a constant issue. During COVID, I actually got into freestyle football, which was a whole new corner of the football universe for me. It kept me connected to the game in a different way, and I still absolutely love just having a ball at my feet. Few things make me happier than that.

Q: What did you study at university, and how did football remain a part of your life?

Elliot:
I studied geography for my undergraduate degree. It was a mix of environmental sciences and human geography, which included social sciences.

Honestly, university completely changed me. I showed up as one person and left as someone entirely different. It really schooled me — in every sense of the word.

I made lifelong friends, and living in Nottingham was fascinating. It’s in the Midlands, a historic hub of the industrial revolution with coal mines and factories. Football was always nearby too — Nottingham Forest games, the history of Notts County, which I believe is the oldest professional football club in England.

Football was still a constant — whether it was watching Brighton play Forest away, playing a bit casually, or just heading to the pub to watch matches with friends.

Q: What drew you to geography and environmental science?

Elliot:
I’ve always been curious about the world. My mum was an air hostess and still is, so growing up, I was lucky enough to travel a bit and see different places.

As a kid, my heroes weren’t just Brighton legends like Bobby Zamora or Glenn Murray — Steve Irwin was right up there too. That curiosity about nature and the environment probably came from him.

Those experiences combined to make geography a natural fit for me.

Q: How did all of that eventually lead to starting Football For Future?

Elliot:
University was when I first learned the true scale of the climate crisis — not just headlines, but the deep, sobering reality. The more I studied it, the scarier it became.

At the same time, I became disillusioned with party politics. Big political moments were happening around the world, and they often seemed to go against my values. It felt like no matter how much I cared, the world was moving in the wrong direction.

So, I became more interested in social movements — moments in history where change seemed impossible until suddenly it wasn’t. Whether it’s labor rights, the civil rights movement, or the abolition of slavery, these were massive shifts that people once thought unimaginable. Change can happen far quicker than we believe.

When I graduated, I assumed there were adults out there who had the situation under control — governments, corporations, world leaders. But it quickly became clear that wasn’t the case.

Sure, there were big organizations like Greenpeace or WWF, but very few were truly speaking truth to power or addressing the root causes of the crisis. Most efforts felt like they were just treating the symptoms.

That led me to work with Extinction Rebellion, a group taking direct action against the UK government for its inaction on climate change. I ended up running their global Instagram account, which grew to hundreds of thousands of followers. We were shutting down London, seeing XR stickers pop up around the world — it was surreal.

Our actions got almost every local government in the UK, and eventually the national government itself, to declare a climate and ecological emergency. It was proof that grassroots movements could create massive, visible change.

Q: So, where does football come into your story?

Elliot:
One day, I wore a Brighton shirt to a climate protest. On the back of a pizza box, I’d scrawled Brighton Fans for Climate Justice.

Over that weekend, more than 10 mums came up to me asking to take a photo because their sons were football fans who didn’t think caring about the planet was “cool.”

That really stuck with me. It showed how powerful combining those identities could be — football fan and climate activist.

So, I set up a group called XR Football, bringing climate activism into football spaces. Suddenly, friends who’d never been interested in protests were joining in because it was framed through football. We started gaining media coverage — BBC, The Guardian, radio spots. Even players and clubs began reaching out.

Around the same time, Marcus Rashford was leading his campaign against food poverty, BLM protests were sweeping sports worldwide, and fans were protesting against the European Super League. Football felt hyper-politicized.

I realized football was this incredible vehicle for social change — but no one was using it to address the climate crisis. It had been used to talk about racial justice, gender equality, LGBTQ+ rights… but sustainability was absent.

That’s when I decided to create something independent and scalable — something that could work with players, clubs, and even the biggest agents in football. That became Football For Future. It was around 2019. I asked a designer friend to help me create a brand that looked professional and credible — a platform that could sit at the same table as major football stakeholders.

From day one, the goal was to unite football’s reach with urgent climate action. That’s how it all began.

Q: Why do you think football is such a powerful vehicle for change?

Elliot:
Football is the most powerful social phenomenon in the world — and we can prove that.

Every World Cup becomes the most-watched event in history, surpassing the previous one. No other cultural event even comes close. The Premier League is the most consumed domestic sports league on the planet.

On social media, football dominates. Cristiano Ronaldo alone has over 700 million Instagram followers — that’s around 10% of the world’s population. To put it in perspective, the BBC has about 6 million.

So if you want to create real change, forget just trying to get an article in The Guardian. Imagine working with football brands, clubs, and players who already reach billions of people every day.

Beyond the numbers, football has a unique ability to connect people. It transcends borders, cultures, religions, and economic divides. Wherever you are in the world, a football shirt or a ball at your feet creates an instant connection. Music is powerful too, but football has a depth of shared values — teamwork, belief, hope, accountability — that are exactly what we need to tackle the climate crisis.

And yet, until recently, there was a deafening silence around climate issues in football. Conversations about racial justice, gender equality, and LGBTQ+ rights had started to take hold because many players and fans have lived experience of those struggles. But very few people working in football are climate experts, so the topic lagged behind.

It’s not just football, though — the whole world is behind where it needs to be. The UK government only declared a climate emergency about five or six years ago. Football reflects that broader reality.

The good news is, change can happen fast. And football has the scale, emotion, and reach to make it happen.

Q: How have you seen everything evolve since those early days? What has the journey looked like over the past few years?

Elliot:
The reception’s been amazing. Honestly, at the start, I didn’t have a background in the football industry at all. I saw myself as part of the climate movement. It actually took me a couple of years to realize that I was working in football.

I remember showing someone around a house, and they asked what I did. I said, “Oh, I work in football,” and then I just stopped mid-sentence and thought, Wait… I actually work in football now.

From the very beginning, what struck me was that people do care about the planet. Even back when football was doing very little about climate change, you’d be hard-pressed to find someone at a club, a league, or a governing body — or even a professional player — who would say they didn’t care about the environment.

There was always fertile ground, a lot of appetite beneath the surface. But the issue was that nobody was really acting on it because there weren’t any climate experts working within football. People in football usually come from performance, finance, business, journalism — not environmental science.

Within our first six months as Football For Future, we already had a consultancy project with a Premier League club and were working with Nike. That gave us real momentum. From there, more projects came in. Football is full of smart, passionate people. Once they saw that we weren’t just some faceless consultancy or a group of “kooky environmentalists,” but a football brand that really understands football culture, doors opened quickly.

Education has been at the core of everything we do. People can’t take action unless they understand the problem. Most adults never received real climate education growing up. Maybe they’ve watched a David Attenborough documentary, but they don’t necessarily know how climate change directly impacts football.

We show them the connection — how extreme weather disrupts the game. Hurricanes, wildfires, extreme heat, flooding, storms… These things are already causing matches to be postponed or moved. Over here in England, more games are being called off due to flooded pitches. Sometimes temperatures are so high that games can’t safely go ahead. Other times, winds are dangerously strong.

When you connect those dots, it stops being an abstract issue. It becomes personal.

We’ve worked with more than 100 professional players on education programs and campaigns. With Nike, we’ve done youth and community programs across England. We’ve also done global education work with Adidas through their “Move for the Planet” sustainability campaign. And now we work directly with the Premier League, traveling to clubs around the country to educate academy players — the next generation of stars who will be the World Cup winners and champions a decade from now.

We also train staff at clubs and governing bodies, which is hugely important. Because every single part of football has an environmental impact — the travel, the food and drink, the plastic waste, the lights on match nights, even the sponsors on the shirts. When people really see that, they can start making meaningful changes.

Q: You’ve just launched a major new report. Can you tell me about the background and mission behind it?

Elliot:
Yes! We’ve just launched Pitches in Peril, a groundbreaking climate risk report ahead of the 2026 World Cup.

This report combines climate data with advocacy from professional players and insights from thousands of fans. It also includes the first-ever climate risk analysis of both World Cup stadiums and the grassroots pitches where legendary players began their careers.

The inspiration came partly from a report by football historian David Goldblatt called Playing Against the Clock. In it, he revealed that 25% of professional men’s football stadiums in England will face flooding by 2050. That was a lightbulb moment for me.

David framed climate change through football, and suddenly it became personal: “I’m a Chelsea fan — Stamford Bridge could flood. Or, I’m a Southampton fan — St. Mary’s could flood.” There’s no better way to speak to football fans about climate than through the language of the game they love.

We decided to go even bigger. Instead of just looking at England and flooding, we went global and analyzed the entire 2026 World Cup. We looked at heat, flooding, extreme winds, droughts — all the factors that could disrupt play.

Our key findings were eye-opening:

• 14 of the 16 World Cup stadiums already experience days where conditions are unsafe for football.

• By 2050, 90% of those stadiums will face extreme heat, with 11 of them experiencing conditions so dangerous that football simply can’t be played.

• This doesn’t even include the risks of wildfires or freezing temperatures — which also disrupt games.

But we didn’t want this to be only about elite football. So we also analyzed 18 grassroots pitches around the world, each linked to a World Cup legend. For example, we looked at the pitches where players like Ronaldo, Mo Salah, Tim Cahill, and Didier Drogba first played as kids.

The results were stark:

• Two-thirds of those grassroots pitches will be unsafe to play on by 2050.

• Pitches in the Global South will face seven times more unplayable days than those in the Global North — despite having contributed far less to climate change and having fewer resources to adapt.

• In Nigeria, the pitch where Troost-Ekong started will experience 142 days per year of unsafe heat — nearly five months.

• Tim Cahill’s childhood pitch in Sydney is projected to experience flood surges up to seven meters.

We also ran the largest-ever sustainability survey of football fans, with over 3,600 responses:

• 90% of fans said the World Cup should be a global role model for sustainability.

• 91% said they’d be proud if their club took meaningful climate action.

• 92% said they’d support players speaking out publicly on climate.

• And perhaps most importantly, 86% said clubs should speak out even if they haven’t solved everything internally yet.

What struck me most is that while 80% of fans have experienced extreme weather disrupting football, less than half have connected that directly to climate change. That gap is where education comes in.

Q: What do you hope this report achieves?

Elliot:
My biggest hope is that it sparks conversation and education. I want players, fans, policymakers, and governing bodies to really understand that football itself is at risk.

When games are canceled due to extreme weather, it’s not just the players who miss out. Millions of people are affected — kids, parents, fans, volunteers. Physical health suffers. Mental health suffers. Local economies take a hit. Stadium damage creates repair costs, and local communities feel those impacts too.

But it’s not just about the risks. Football also has unmatched potential to be part of the solution. It’s the most powerful cultural force in the world. Nothing else comes close to its ability to unite people and shift attitudes.

The 2026 World Cup will be the most-watched event in human history. That’s an incredible opportunity for football to take a leadership role — to show the world what meaningful climate action looks like.

And it’s not about being perfect. Nobody has all the answers. If only “perfect” people could care about the planet, nobody would be doing anything. It’s about stepping up, being honest, and saying: “I’m not perfect, but I care. I want to learn, and I want to use my platform to make a difference.”

My hope is that this report helps people make the connection between football and the natural world — and realize that every single person in football has a role to play, whether you’re a player, journalist, coach, groundskeeper, or fan.

If everyone takes that first step, we can create meaningful change — not just for the game we love, but for the world we all share.

Q: For someone who’s been doing this for six-plus years now, what advice would you give to others who want to start using football as a vehicle for change — whether it’s around climate issues or other causes?

Elliot:
One thing I’d say is that we actually included a solutions and recommendations section in our report — and that’s a great place to start.

It’s packed with insights for everyone, whether you’re:

• A grassroots, community-led organization with limited resources,

• A smaller club trying to get started,

• A major football brand with millions in annual revenue,

• Or even a tournament organizer.

We worked closely with football and climate experts to build that section, so no matter where you are in your journey, there’s guidance there for you.

My other big piece of advice: don’t try to do it alone.

• Talk to people around you.

• Reach out to us.

• Organize education sessions so your team and collaborators share the same vision.

If you’re the only one pushing, it can feel lonely and overwhelming. But if you create a working group and start speaking openly, you’ll be surprised at what becomes possible when you have allies. That applies to both climate initiatives, and other ones as well.

Q: Looking back at everything you’ve done, what’s been the most rewarding part of this journey?

Elliot:
Oh, that’s such a beautiful question.

I love the big launches, being nominated for awards, and seeing our work published in major outlets — that’s all exciting. But honestly, the most rewarding part is the human connection.

For me, it’s about:

• Sitting down with people,

• Having real conversations,

• Educating and sharing ideas — but doing it in a way that’s fun and not too serious.

I love watching that moment when someone has an epiphany — when they realize climate change is connected to football, or that you don’t have to be perfect to care about it.

And the team I work with… they’re just incredible. Passionate, talented, and values-driven. It’s a privilege to be surrounded by people like that every day.

The workshops, especially — seeing someone leave feeling empowered, ready to go out and make an impact in their own circles — those moments can literally change the course of someone’s career. That’s been incredibly inspiring and rewarding.

I’ve seen how football has this incredible reach and cultural power to rally people together around solutions, and I’ve seen how it’s not just a one-way street — football isn’t just being affected by climate change. Football can also be the catalyst for positive change.