Spanish Soccer Giant Real Madrid Partners with Meatless Farm to Make Sports More Plant-Based

United Kingdom-based vegan brand The Meatless Farm Co. recently became an official global partner of Spanish professional football team Real Madrid to help raise awareness of the benefits of plant-based eating. As part of the partnership, Real Madrid’s nutritionists will work with Meatless Farm to show how plant-based foods can be incorporated within a performance-based diet. Additionally, the team’s players will be sharing their experience of reducing meat and increasing plant-based foods for both environmental and personal performance benefits. 

“We know there is still a huge gap in consumer understanding of the positive impact reducing meat consumption can have on the environment, so we have to reach far beyond vegetarians and vegans and significantly increase the ‘meat-lessers’—encouraging everyone to reduce their meat consumption and increase their plant-based eating,” Meatless Farm founder Morten Toft Bech said. “Real Madrid is the perfect partner for us in this mission—football is the biggest sport in the world and they are one of the biggest [teams]. The relationship between a football [team] and its fans is unlike any other—it’s a close and lifelong commitment and Real fans around the globe are amongst the most dedicated, so the influence and reach that the [team] has is unparalleled.”

Commitment to sustainability

The partnership came about because of a shared passion between the brand and the team for sustainability, performance, and community well-being. Real Madrid recently became the first football team to sign up as a participant of the UN Global Compact—the largest corporate sustainability initiative in the world. The team is also undertaking a four-year refurbishment of its Bernabéu stadium to make it more efficient and sustainable. 

“They are one of the leading [teams] for their sustainability commitments and research shows that their fans have a keen interest in health and environmental concerns, so the [team] shares our values but importantly so do their fans,” Bech said.