Former Bundesliga boss Andreas Rettig talks about the high energy consumption in German professional football and hopes that there will soon be a rethink.
2000 heating oil per day for pitch heating: In view of the looming energy crisis, former DFL managing director Andreas Rettig is also calling for a rethink in professional football. For the 59-year-old, it is incomprehensible “when the lawn heating and the floodlights are running at full speed in winter,” he says to the “SID”. According to this, an oil-powered lawn heating consumes around 2000 liters of heating oil per day. “That’s about as much as a single family home all year round.”
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Professional football must also make its contribution: “If energy rationing is currently being considered and households have to use it more sparingly, if the Minister for Economic Affairs appeals to save energy where possible, then professional football must also make its contribution,” says Rettig.
Future premium for sustainable clubs? Rettig would like a “paradigm shift” and “other incentives through success bonuses towards sustainability”. “Why not reward the clubs that will achieve the greatest share of the common good in the future. Or offer a bonus for the greenest stocking of the sustainable or socially committed player. For me, that would be signals pointing in the right direction.”
