In June 2000 the European Football Championship were held in the Netherlands and Belgium. Football lovers were expected to gather happily in the stadiums and in front of their TVs, while the uninterested would have to clench their teeth for a while. But these two united in joint efforts to improve working conditions in the garment and sport shoe industry.

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The European Championship will once again be the arena where the large sportswear companies compete for the best sponsorship contracts. The money that will be spent on sponsorships stands out in stark contrast to the low wages that are paid to the workers that actually make the sport shoes and garments that these companies sell.

The different Clean Clothes Campaigns in Europe will focus on the championship to show that good sportsmanship also means wearing clothes and shoes made under good conditions. Football fans, and of course all other consumers, will be asked to focus their attention on the world behind the football matches; on working conditions that can consist of work weeks longer than 80 hours, bans on organizing unions, and unsafe and unhealthy working conditions -- all for a wage that one can hardly live off of.

During the Euro 2000 campaign the well-known sportswear-producing companies, such as Nike, Adidas, Reebok, and Puma will be asked to clean up their production. Most of these companies have developed their own codes of conduct, directed at social conditions. In general these codes lack essental demands, such as the right to collective bargaining and the right to a living wage. Also these codes are not monitored, or only monitored by an organisation hired by the company itself and the results are not made public. Consumers therefore do not know -- they have no way of knowing actually-- if the garment and shoes they buy are made under the conditions that are written in the code of the company. Therefore, the CCCs ask all these companies to sign a code of conduct that includes all the basic labour demands and to have the factories that produce their products independently monitored.

The different Clean Clothes Campaigns will request that the UEFA (Union Européenne de Football) and the EURO 2000 organising committe apply the FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) code of conduct and ensure that this code is monitored independently to ensure that all the products that are made under the FIFA logo will be produced at least under the working conditions that are described in the code.

The FIFA Code

In September 1996 FIFA, the ICFTU, the FIET (the International Federation of Commercial, Clerical, Professional and Technical Employees), and the ITGLWF came to an agreement on a Code of Labour Practice for all the products with a FIFA logo. The licensees have to make sure that their suppliers, including subcontractors, produce according to the seven basic labour norms in the Code. Also laid down in the code are several provisons regarding enforcement and monitoring. As Nike, adidas, and others make products under the FIFA license they should ensure that production conditions meet the standards set by the FIFA code of conduct. Companies can also made a declaration of intent to sign the Code of Labour Standards for the Apparel Industry including Sportswear to demonstrate their interest in in improving labour conditions.

Play Fair tickets

In early March 1999 tickets for the Euro 2000 matches to be played in eight stadiums went on sale. At the same time that UEFA put their tickets on sale, the Clean Clothes Campaigns in the Netherlands and Belgium put "Play Fair" tickets on sale. Consumers are asked to pay a minimum of 5 Euros per ticket. The money that is raised through ticket sales will be used to buy advertising space in a national newspaper where a public appeal for better working conditions will appear. In this appeal the consumers who bought the ticket will ask the UEFA, the organising committee, and the sportswear producers to make sure that the articles with the FIFA logo are produced under the working conditions described in the code.

During the Championship a large tour is planned for the cities that are home to the Euro 2000 stadiums. Testimonies of workers and reports from researchers and journalists on working conditions in sportswear producing factories are being collected to support the Euro 2000 actions, and exhibitions and a documentary are in the works as well.