Euroleague Basketball is pleased to announce two sustainability activities that will take place alongside the 2023 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Final Four in Kaunas, Lithuania, aimed at sustainability mobility, education and emissions impact awareness. The first program is a reforestation campaign and the second is the Final Four Walking Challenge, which will also end up allowing locals and visitors to support the reforestation campaign.
As part of the reforestation campaign, Euroleague Basketball aims to plant 15,000 trees in Kaunas, the capacity of this year’s Final Four. As a tip-off of the campaign, 10,000 trees were already planted by Euroleague and its partner #walk15 in the Dubravos Forest last Saturday May 6. Euroleague Basketball Legend Ramunas Siskauskas and Zalgiris Kaunas Legend Paulius Jankunas represented Euroleague Basketball and actively participated in the planting of the trees. It is estimated that this quantity of trees will help absorb over 100 tons of CO2 emitted into the environment each year, while the species of trees being planted will contribute to the needs of the local wildlife.
The Final Four Walking Challenge will take place over Final Four weekend, May 18-21, and will ask participants to take at least 10,000 steps on each of those days. Not only will the extra walking promote sustainable mobility and healthy habits, and people’s chance to reduce emissions, but it will be the source of more trees being planted to reach the 15,000 goal. In addition, participants can win prizes!
Euroleague Basketball will collaborate with popular Lithuanian App #walk15 on both initiatives. To take part in the Final Four Walking Challenge, fans – whether Final Four ticket holders or not – should simply download the free #walk15 app on their phones and register. Once in, they can join one of the Final Four teams – FC Barcelona, Olympiacos Piraeus, AS Monaco and Real Madrid or the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague team.
The goal of the challenge is to achieve the highest number of steps over those four days – both as an individual and team member. The challenge will be open to everyone in the city of Kaunas and abroad. Registration opens on Thursday, May 11.
To be eligible for the prizes, participants must walk at least 10,000 steps on each day of the challenge. Among eligible participants will be raffled off tickets to the 2024 EuroLeague Final Four in Berlin, Germany. There will be additional prizes for the top 3 walkers from each of the five teams. Euroleague and its partner adidas, will also offer on-site prizes opportunities for visiting specific locations through dedicated tracks, including, the Adidas Next Generation Tournament at Kaunas Sports Hall and the FanZone at Unity Square. The App will also allow the participants to store their steps in a wallet to exchange them for a F4 special 15% discount for the Vilnius to Kaunas train.
This initiative is being supported by our friends and Final Four collaborators at #walk15, the Lithuanian Forestry Office, Lithuanian train company LTG Link, Kauno autobusai, Zalgiris Kaunas, adidas and the City of Kaunas.
