Should football clubs travel so far for pre-season?

The Premier League’s unrivalled global appeal has seen sold-out stadiums across the world this summer – with fans spread across various continents getting to see their heroes in real life.

But after calls for sport to use the pandemic as a chance to reset around its role in climate impact, the return to vast amounts of plane travel has raised questions on the cost to the environment.

Villa top of CO2 emissions

This table displays a BBC Sport estimate of each club’s emissions in order of who has generated the most CO2 from air travel.

BBC Sport has not included emissions from domestic fixtures for the purposes of this comparison, given air travel – mile for mile – is the most damaging way to travel for the environment.

Premier League teams	Air miles travelled in pre-season	C02 emissions per passenger (in Kg)	Carbon emissions per football team in Metric Tons
Aston Villa	22419	2921	87.63
Leeds United	21858	2736	82.08
Manchester United	21507	2642	79.29
Crystal Palace	22819	2583	77.49
Liverpool	14160	1804	54.12
Tottenham Hotspur	15330	1770	53.1
Chelsea	13421	1639	49.17
Arsenal	9808	1247	37.41
Manchester City	9505	1123	33.69
Everton	8297	980	29.4
Nottingham Forest	3258	534	16.02
Newcastle United	3253	460	13.8
Wolverhampton Wanderers	2503	392	11.76
Fulham	2174	349	10.47
AFC Bournemouth	1994	302	9.06
Brighton & Hove Albion	1916	296	8.88
West Ham United	1206	278	8.34
Brentford	1318	269	8.07
Southampton	1548	264	7.92
Leicester City	564	134	4.02
Grand Total	178858	22721	681.6
BBC Sport calculations are based on an estimated average of 30 people – players and staff – travelling per club

The club to produce the most CO2 during their pre-season tour was Aston Villa.

Their Australia tour included fixtures against Leeds United, Brisbane Roar and Manchester United, while Steven Gerrard’s side also flew to France to play Rennes today.

In total, Villa have emitted 87.63 metric tonnes of CO2, equating to 2,921kg per passenger, from five flights this summer – with…