We stand with Fabregas, Rabiot and Maignan – international league fixtures are bad for game and globe | OneFootball

There comes a point when football’s constant chase for growth becomes indistinguishable from gluttony. That point may well have arrived with Serie A’s latest proposal: the idea of staging an AC Milan vs Como fixture in Australia.

For a league that prides itself on heritage, local passion and cultural connection, the suggestion of uprooting a domestic match and exporting it across hemispheres isn’t just tone-deaf. It’s environmentally indefensible and spiritually bankrupt.

Thankfully, some of Serie A’s biggest names have said what millions of supporters and sustainability advocates are thinking. AC Milan goalkeeper Mike Maignan, Juventus midfielder Adrien Rabiot and Como coach Cesc Fabregas have all condemned the plan publicly.

Maignan’s words were unambiguous: “We should be playing at home.” Rabiot agreed, calling the idea “nonsense”, while Fabregas – who has overseen Como’s unlikely rise into the top half of Serie A – went further, saying: “I respect marketing and global appeal, but football belongs to the fans, and the fans are here.”

Their comments have united a rare coalition of players, managers, supporters and environmental groups who see this proposal for what it is: another carbon-heavy cash grab dressed up as innovation.

Let’s be clear: the environmental cost of such fixtures isn’t small change. A round trip from Milan to Melbourne emits roughly nine tonnes of CO₂ per passenger. Multiply that by two full squads, coaching staff, medical teams, media crews, broadcasters and the hordes of sponsors who would inevitably be flown in to bask in the “spectacle”, and you begin to see the scale of absurdity. In an era when Europe is experiencing record heatwaves, flooded cities and drought-stricken summers, football’s governing bodies seem determined to keep proving that they’ve learned nothing.

The sport’s carbon footprint is already enormous. Air travel for continent-wide competitions accounts for a significant share of European sport-related emissions. UEFA’s own sustainability report, published in 2024, admitted that travel remains the “greatest challenge” to reducing football’s climate impact. And yet Serie A’s executives seem to think the solution to waning domestic TV revenue is to burn even more fuel, sending 22 players, several tons of equipment and a marketing entourage to the other side of the planet for a 90-minute advertisement.

For those of us at Pledgeball, a charity dedicated to reducing football’s environmental impact, this isn’t just bad optics – it’s a moral failure. It sends the wrong message at the worst possible time. When the football community should be leading by example, showing how sport can adapt to the climate crisis, its decision-makers are instead chasing temporary revenue spikes with permanent environmental consequences.

And what of the fans? Those who sustain the game through ticket purchases, local loyalty and generational identity? They’re being left behind. Literally. A Milan vs Como match played 10,000 miles away severs the very connection that defines domestic football.

Football’s local rituals – the walk to the ground, the shared songs, the neighbourhood pubs – cannot be replicated in a stadium halfway around the world. This isn’t about inclusivity; it’s about commodification. It’s about converting heritage into merchandise.

Even beyond Italy, the backlash has already begun. Spain’s La Liga had planned to play a Barcelona vs Villarreal fixture in Miami this December, only for the game to be cancelled following protests from fans, players and even local authorities. As ESPN reported, the decision came amid “logistical and legal complications” – the same complications that highlight why such schemes don’t belong in domestic football.

If La Liga’s aborted Miami venture showed anything, it’s that logistical headaches are the least of the issues. The deeper problem is philosophical: the idea that football’s local competitions must constantly expand their “global footprint” to justify their existence. But Europe’s top leagues don’t need more geography, they need more integrity. Fans don’t demand to see Como vs Milan in Melbourne. They demand fair scheduling, affordable tickets and climate responsibility.

There’s a particularly cruel irony in seeing Italian football – once the most romantic, community-anchored of all – entertain this kind of spectacle. Como, after all, are one of Serie A’s best stories this season, a club revitalised under Fabregas and powered by intelligent recruitment rather than reckless spending. Forcing them into a 17,000-kilometre journey undermines their sustainability on and off the pitch. Fabregas put it perfectly: “We’ve earned the right to play our matches in front of our supporters.”

The BBC described the proposal as part of “a wider push to expand Serie A’s international presence”, but that presence needn’t come at the expense of environmental sanity or local culture. There are countless sustainable ways to promote Italian football abroad – from pre-season tournaments to youth academies and digital engagement – that don’t involve dragging an entire league fixture halfway across the globe.

At Pledgeball, we stand unequivocally with Maignan, Rabiot and Fabregas. We stand with the supporters in Como and Milan who have built their communities around these clubs. And we stand for a vision of football that understands that the game’s future depends on more than profit margins. If the planet continues to warm at its current rate, the next generation of players won’t be debating fixture lists, they’ll be playing under climate-controlled domes or not at all.

Football, like any cultural institution, has a duty to protect what sustains it. The proposed overseas Serie A fixture does the opposite. It burns resources, alienates fans and ignores science. There’s still time for the league to listen – to its players, its supporters and the planet. Because when Fabregas says “we should be playing at home”, he isn’t just talking about geography. He’s talking about responsibility.