Wednesday 31 May 2017, 10:26

Russian showpieces to be tobacco-free events

This year’s FIFA Confederations Cup and next year’s FIFA World Cup™ will be tobacco-free events. FIFA and the Local Organising Committee (LOC) confirmed this on Wednesday 31 May, as World No Tobacco Day is celebrated across the world in conjunction with the World Health Organisation (WHO).

This decision is based on FIFA´s long-standing commitment to counter the use of tobacco and its negative impacts, which started in 1986 when FIFA announced it would no longer accept advertising from the tobacco industry.

"FIFA has banned smoking at FIFA World Cups since 2002 in order to respect and protect people’s Human Rights as a part of FIFA´s social responsibility commitment," said Federico Addiechi, FIFA's Head of Sustainability & Diversity. "FIFA´s Tobacco-Free Policy for FIFA Tournaments ensures that those who choose to, may only use tobacco products in designated areas, if in existence, to ensure that it does not harm others. The policy protects the right of the majority of the population, who are non-smokers, to breathe clean air that is not contaminated by carcinogens and other harmful substances in tobacco smoke and e-cigarettes."

"All our actions in preparing for the tournament are taken in strict compliance with the Sustainability Strategy," said Milana Verkhunova, Director of Sustainable Development at the Russia 2018 LOC. "One of the objectives in this area is to create a tobacco-free environment at all World Cup stadiums and FIFA Fan Fests.

“Creating a tobacco-free environment at all World Cup stadiums and FIFA Fan Fests is a very important objective of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Sustainability Strategy”, said Milana Verkhunova, Director of Sustainability Department at the Russia 2018 LOC. “In order to fulfill this task, we actively interact with the World Health Organization, the Ministry of Health, the expert community, host cities, stadium operators, the World Cup ambassadors and fans, as well as with the Russian Football Union. We hope that by joint efforts we will be able to contribute to the reduction of tobacco consumption in Russia.”

Here, FIFA.com highlights the key dates in FIFA’s work towards smoke-free sporting events.

1986: FIFA announces it will no longer accept advertising from tobacco-industry sponsors. 1999: At the FIFA Women’s World Cup™ in the USA, FIFA supports an anti-smoking campaign launched by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). 2002: FIFA supports a smoke-free campaign launched by WHO and the HHS. World football’s governing body is consequently bestowed with the WHO Director General’s Award for an anti-smoking campaign. 2002: Korea/Japan becomes the first smoke-free FIFA World Cup, meaning it has no links whatsoever to tobacco. Every FIFA World Cup since has followed suit. 2010: FIFA, the LOC and other stakeholders develop and adopt the ‘Stadium Code of Conduct’, which describes the applicable measures and policies for stadium visitors and staff, including prohibition of smoking in the stands and around the pitch. 2011: FIFA provides input to the European Healthy Stadia Network for policy position and enforcement guidelines for UEFA, concerning a smoke-free UEFA EURO 2012. 2013/2014: The FIFA Confederations Cup and World Cup in Brazil take place as tobacco-free events. 2015: World No Tobacco Day celebrated as 'World Smoke Free Day' at the FIFA U-20 World Cup New Zealand 2015 2017/2018: The FIFA Confederations Cup and the FIFA World Cup in Russia will both be tobacco-free events.

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