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How can football be a lever for sustainability?

KBVB

Between 2019 and 2022, Route 2030 worked closely with the KBVB (Royal Belgian Football Association) to structurally integrate sustainability. Through research, workshops, co-creation, and strategic guidance, a shared approach was developed around inclusion, health, human rights, and ecological sustainability, anchored in reporting and policy.

Football moves people—literally and figuratively. It brings millions of fans together, connects generations, and has unparalleled social power. This impact makes the Royal Belgian Football Association (RBFA) not just a sports organization, but also a player with responsibility.

Between 2019 and 2022, Route 2030 worked closely with the KBVB (Royal Belgian Football Association) to harness this strength: not to place sustainability alongside football, but to make it an integral part of it. It became a journey of insight, co-creation, strategy, project development, and lasting impact.


Step by step: how we co-created the KBVB's sustainability course


1. Insight — What is truly material?

We jointly investigated which sustainability themes really should be prioritized in the world of football. This led to four focus areas:

  • inclusion

  • health

  • human rights

  • ecological sustainability

We mapped out the social role of the KBVB, examined international sports trends, analyzed stakeholders, and gathered internal perceptions.


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2. Dynamics — creating support within and outside the association

Sustainability doesn't work top-down. It should be supported by:

  • clubs

  • volunteers

  • trainers

  • federation employees

  • Young people

  • partners and stakeholders


Through hackathons, workshops, interactive sessions, and dialogue opportunities, we ensured it became a sector-wide movement , not a standalone project.


3. Course — from themes to strategy

Based on all the collected insights, we translated the four priority themes into:

  • clear ambitions

  • strategic objectives

  • concrete actions and projects

  • short-term and long-term priorities

This provided the KBVB with a clear roadmap that matched its sporting and social role.


4. Impact — making sustainability visible in sport and society

The federation consciously chose a leading role:

  • Thanks to our collaboration, the KBVB became the Belgian SDG Voice in 2021 , a recognition for organizations that actively promote the SDGs.

  • Since 2019, the KBVB has published an annual sustainability report that presents goals, results, and impact.

  • Route 2030 contributed to impact research and helped translate insights into reporting.


The themes of environment, inclusion, human rights and governance have since been more firmly anchored in policy, projects and communication.

As Robin Knops, former FSR manager at KBVB, summarised it:

"The collaboration with Route 2030 has more than met our expectations. With every new sustainability challenge or project, we immediately think of your expertise. We look forward to working together again."

The collaboration with the KBVB demonstrates how a large federation can embrace its social role and achieve structural sustainability. By combining insight, co-creation, strategy, and communication, sustainability is placed at the heart of the organization—and thus also in the Belgian sports world.


👉 Does your organization or federation want to structurally embed sustainability? Contact us for an exploratory meeting.



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