How The Old Lady is breaking new frontiers in Italian football | OneFootball

Juventus have always been addicted to winning. Thirty-six Scudetti; a conveyor belt of domestic doubles; European nights that still echo around Turin. The club’s identity has long been forged in silverware and swagger.

But while the rest of Serie A continues to wrestle with modernisation, Juve have quietly been busy redefining what leadership looks like off the pitch. Not with another superstar signing, but with spreadsheets, solar panels and sustainability frameworks.

It’s not quite as glamorous as Alessandro Del Piero curling one into the top corner, but it might be even more important.

Italian football has historically lagged behind its European peers when it comes to environmental strategy. Infrastructure is ageing, governance fragmented and sustainability often treated as a marketing add-on rather than a structural priority.

Juventus have chosen a different path. Over the past decade, the club have built an ESG strategy that wouldn’t look out of place in a multinational corporation, positioning themselves as the benchmark for environmental accountability in Serie A.

The cornerstone of that strategy remains the Allianz Stadium. Opened in 2011, it was already a symbol of Juventus dragging Italian football into the 21st century with privately owned, revenue-generating infrastructure. In 2016 it became the first football stadium in Italy to achieve LEED Gold certification, recognising high standards in energy efficiency, water management and sustainable construction.

Rainwater harvesting systems, low-consumption lighting, intelligent climate control and waste reduction measures were not bolt-ons but built into the operational DNA of the venue. While many Italian clubs still play in municipal stadiums with creaking utilities and limited environmental oversight, Juventus created a venue designed to measure and reduce its footprint.

But sustainability at Juventus is not confined to bricks and mortar. Since 2017 the club have published annual sustainability reports aligned with international reporting standards, placing transparency at the centre of their environmental commitments. That matters because football clubs have traditionally been opaque institutions, more comfortable announcing shirt sponsorships than carbon data. Juventus have moved in the opposite direction, integrating ESG metrics into corporate governance and performance reporting.

That shift accelerated again in 2024 and 2025 when Juventus became the first Italian football club to align their sustainability disclosures with the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive. CSRD compliance is not a ceremonial badge. It requires rigorous data collection, third-party verification and detailed reporting on emissions, climate risk, supply chains and environmental impact. For a football club to operate at that regulatory standard is rare even across Europe. In Italy, it is unprecedented. While rivals debate whether sustainability even belongs on the boardroom agenda, Juventus are already playing under the most demanding regulatory framework on the continent.

The club’s environmental programme stretches across daily operations. Juventus have committed to reducing energy consumption through increased use of renewable electricity at training facilities and headquarters, expanding digital ticketing and cashless systems to reduce paper use, and implementing structured waste separation programmes at matches and events. Single-use plastics have been phased out across hospitality areas and replaced with recyclable or compostable alternatives. Matchday logistics, traditionally a carbon-heavy operation, have also been targeted, with Juventus promoting low-emission transport options for fans and staff and optimising team travel planning to reduce unnecessary emissions.

There is also a wider industry influence at play. Juventus have not kept their sustainability work behind closed doors. Through partnerships with ESG consultants and technology providers, the club have contributed to shaping sustainability reporting standards within football, helping define how clubs measure environmental impact rather than merely talking about it. That leadership role matters in a league where collective progress has often been slow and disjointed.

Of course, this is still Juventus, so the sporting context can’t be ignored. Even through financial turbulence, points deductions and managerial upheaval, Juve remain Italy’s most successful side by a distance. Domestic dominance built the brand power that now allows Juventus to invest in long-term environmental strategy. The same ruthless efficiency that once crushed opponents in Serie A is now being applied to energy consumption, waste management and emissions reporting.

There is a commercial logic behind the green pivot, too. Global sponsors increasingly demand ESG alignment and multinational partners are far more likely to invest in clubs that can demonstrate measurable sustainability performance. Juventus understand that football’s future revenue streams will not come solely from broadcast deals and shirt sales, but from being a credible, responsible global brand. Sustainability has become competitive advantage.

Critics will argue that football’s environmental impact is still tiny compared to heavy industry, and they would be right. But cultural influence is not measured in tonnes of steel; it is measured in visibility. When Italy’s biggest club publicly commit to sustainability targets, publish transparent reports and embed environmental performance into corporate governance, it sends a signal that football cannot sit outside the climate conversation. Juventus are using their platform to normalise environmental accountability in a space that has historically resisted it.

There is still work to be done. Net-zero targets require constant recalibration. Supply chain emissions remain difficult to control. Fan travel continues to dwarf stadium operational footprints. Juventus are not claiming perfection. What they are offering is leadership.

The Old Lady has always prided herself on being first. First to modernise stadium ownership in Italy. First to professionalise commercial operations at scale. Now first to treat sustainability not as branding, but as infrastructure. While rivals argue about referees and transfer rumours, Juventus are building a future-proof model for Italian football.

On the pitch, trophies will always define legacy. Off it, Juventus may be crafting something even more enduring: a blueprint for how elite football can exist responsibly in a climate-conscious world. In Turin, the Old Lady is not just chasing the next title. She’s chasing relevance in the next era.