ESG

For over twenty years, Brera Holdings has been synonymous with social impact, with ESG at the core of the company’s DNA.

At Brera, we believe that ESG is in the fabric of football, sports, and society itself. This includes a bottom-up nurturing of players historically and currently competing for our teams, as well as engaging of fans, including those from disadvantaged backgrounds or communities. We intend to be a leader in guiding the industry towards a more inclusive approach to professional football, through the use of unconventional routes and undiscovered markets with the aim to unleash the full potential of ESG in the business.

With upcoming large-scale, international exhibitions approaching, such as the 2026 FIFA World Cup in USA, Mexico, and Canada, we expect that social awareness and impact will become a growing and crucial public focus.

Brera’s history of social impact and key milestones:

2002-2003

Participation in a domestic championship of junior teams made up of non-EU kids residing in Italy. Founder Alessandro Aleotti's commitment to the integration of immigrants began in 1999 with the “MilanoMondo” project (the foreign communities of Milan League). This project received high praise from Giuliano Milesi, President of the Lombardy Regional Committee, who subsequently granted an exemption to the registration of foreign kids. The participation of the kids in the tournament, representing 13 different ethnic communities, showcased the overcoming of differences in languages, cultures and religions. It was only serious injuries that prevented this multi-ethnic team from challenging for the top spot in their group. Through this domestic tournament, Brera FC, in collaboration with cultural association “Comuna Baires”, tells a literary and theatrical story of the historic team.

2003-2004

“FreeOpera Brera” is a team participating in the Terza Categoria championship (9th Division), entirely made up of inmates of the Opera prison and managed by Brera FC – a nod to the company’s focus on social impact and societal development In addition to an extraordinary success in terms of media coverage and support for the initiative, “FreeOpera” achieved the historic sports result of being promoted to Seconda Categoria (8th Division).

2006-2007

This season saw the launch of an important social football project with orphanage “I Martinitt”, a well-established Milanese institution. Brera created and managed a team constituted of disadvantaged minors, hosted in the Martinitt family communities. This team achieved, in addition to an honorable seventh place in the CSI championship, the important goal of integrating the project participants within the team and with the outside world. In June 2007, Brera was awarded with prestigious special recognition of the "Productive Milan" award of the Chamber of Commerce, for this project as well as for the other social projects with immigrants and in the Opera prison in its history.

2010-2011

In 2011, Brera participated in the prestious youth tournament “Viareggio Youth” with the Grimaldi brothers’ Gabonese team "Emergence..” Brera fielded a group of young African footballers under the name "Brera Emergence Gabon", ending with one win and two defeats.

2015-2016

This season, Brera participated in the “Romani People Football Team” project in collaboration with Upre Roma. A group of youth from the Roma and Sinti ethnic group played under Brera FC. The football team played at Brera’s stadium, the Arena Civica in Milan, in a friendly match against the Padania selection.

2021-2024

The “FENIX Trophy”, represented by its motto “Making friends, not millionaires”, is a groundbreaking international sporting event that has taken place annually since the 2021/22 season.

The last tournament showcased 12 non-professional clubs (each one paired with a charity community partner), chosen for their exceptional social, historical, and cultural distinctiveness. The competition, as approved by UEFA, has a meaning that surpasses the football aspect at face value. The FENIX Trophy is an original experience that seeks to embody an ESG model applied to amateur football. The tournament aims to highlight best practices within non-professional football, focusing on sporting conduct, local community bonds, sustainability, use of technologies, and camaraderie among clubs.

Sports and grassroots football as beneficiaries of occasional ESG initiatives by institutions is now largely outdated. Today’s challenge is to promote and implement self-sustainable sports projects, capable of achieving concrete and measurable ESG parameters.

The FENIX Trophy’s vision is to foster the idea that sports can, and should,positively impact local communities around football – which thereby will have an impact on society as a whole.

In order to achieve this goal, Brera refers to the 11 policies included in UEFA’s «Football Sustainability Strategy 2030 / Strength Through Unity».

2022

The Internet Marketing Association named Brera FC as its award recipient for “Social Impact Through Soccer” at its “IMPACT 22 Conference.”

2024

Brera’s Mongolian club Brera Ilch set up a social impact focused partnership with the youth sector of local club Bayangol FC. Main goals of the partnership are to provide opportunities to play football and participate in social activities for Mongolian children (boys U10, U12, U14 and girls) with disadvantaged backgrounds and to create a positive social impact in Mongolia through football, allowing children to pursue a healthy lifestyle and tackle substance abuse. Brera currently support football schools in several rural areas throughout Mongolia, organize training sessions with coaches, and invite kids to serve as mascots before Mongolian Premier League matches.

2024

Brera’s Mozambique club Brera Tchumene has launched a social impact initiative in collaboration with the “Infantário Primeiro de Maio” orphanage in Maputo. The club organizes regular visits where players and coaches from the men's and women's team meet the local children in the orphanage and play football and games together In addition to in-person engagement, the club also promotes the delivery of basic goods, including food items and cleaning products.