🏆 The Bad Sport Awards 2026 are here. And this year’s winners have been making some truly spectacular contributions to the world of sportswashing. Here are the winners… 🧵

🚨 BIG NEWS: Fossil ad ban advocate María Neira has been nominated by Spain to lead the World Health Organisation. Neira has been a consistent supported of such a ban, even describing fossil fuels as the "new tobacco". 🛢️🚬

Sportswashing is an oily stain on our sports. We campaign for all running events drop high-carbon sponsors. We’ve identified 41 races with high-carbon sponsors. 24 gas & oil, 14 airline & three car manufacturers. No doubt we’ve missed many more. @badvertising.bsky.social

Wizz Air claim to have the lowest airline CO2 emissions in Europe. At the same time, their desire is to provide everyone with flights at the lowest price & all you can fly annual passes. Reducing emissions while fuelling demand for cheap flights isn’t the answer. @badvertising.bsky.social

The Premier League has shown that a sponsorship industry once described as indispensable can be phased out. The question is whether it is ready to apply the same thinking to the industries whose products are endangering the future of the game.

So what would a serious approach to restricting polluting sponsorship look like? Not just shirts. Kit, stadium naming rights, competition title rights and digital inventory - across the men’s and women’s game and the wider football pyramid.

But there’s a big warning here too. The gambling ban only covers the front of the shirt. So betting brands have moved onto sleeves, training kits and other spaces. A partial ban doesn’t necessarily remove an industry from sponsorship.

The gambling ban wasn’t imposed by government. In 2023, Premier League clubs voted overwhelmingly to remove betting sponsors from the front of shirts, with three seasons to phase out existing deals. They were given time to adjust.

The comparison matters because high-carbon sponsors are typically protected by the same "we can't afford it" argument. This means that - despite the harm they cause - fossil fuel companies, airlines, and unsustainable car companies get off the hook.

NEW PIECE: Football said it couldn’t afford to lose gambling sponsors. Then twenty Premier League clubs started this season without a front shirt betting sponsor Football did not collapse. So why do many view high-carbon industries so differently? 🧵

CAMPAIGN WIN: Bristol has just banned high-carbon advertising on publicly-owned space. With the city including fast fashion for the first time. Momentum is building across the UK for a fossil fuel ad ban. 🚀 Here’s the story so far. 🧵

The UN has revealed that the world is likely to breach 1.5°C of warming within the next few years. It is not more important than ever that we not only ramp up renewables, but also reduce demand for fossil fuels. This is where a fossil ad ban must come in. 🧵 1/6

BIG NEWS: Criminal legal proceedings are being launched against Fifa president Gianni Infantino by Uefa. But Fifa has a deeper issue than Infantino - it has been selling the game to the highest bidder for decades. 🧵 1/6