Real Betis Balompié, through its environmental sustainability platform Forever Green, which seeks to involve the world in the fight against climate change through football, presents a pioneering shirt made from oranges to highlight the importance of urban green spaces. This is a new Hummel kit that the green-and-white club will wear on matchday 25 of LaLiga against Rayo Vallecano to highlight the value of metropolitan natural heritage as a guarantee of lower temperatures, climate refuge and quality of life in cities.

In addition, the shirt numbers feature a perforated design inspired by the texture of orange peel, incorporating scratch-and-sniff technology, a sustainable and 100% chemical-free ink that, when scratched, releases the scent of orange blossom, a symbol of the city, with the aim of ensuring that this awareness-raising message can not only be seen but also smelt. This innovation has been made possible thanks to specialist manufacturer STAHLS TPT, which is once again joining Forever Green's commitment by also creating the names and sponsors that will appear on the players' shirts.

Part of the campaign "Green living starts in the neighbourhood", developed in collaboration with the agency Officer & Gentleman, the aim of this initiative is to raise awareness of the role played by trees, and specifically orange trees, a legacy of Seville's urban landscape, as they provide shade for streets and squares, help mitigate the heat island effect and represent a cultural identity. They also play a fundamental role as a natural drainage system, efficiently managing excess rainwater.

The iconic Plaza de Doña Elvira was the setting chosen this morning for the presentation of Betis' new kit. In a ceremony steeped in symbolism, Joaquín Sánchez, club legend and current director, together with Rafael Gordillo, president of the Real Betis Balompié Foundation, starred in the most emotional moment when they lifted a child from the Betis School into their arms so that he could retrieve the shirt from the branches of one of the traditional orange trees in the square.

The event revolved around the concept of "growing green", linking Real Betis Balompié's youth academy model with urban sustainability. According to Rafa Muela, manager of the Real Betis Balompié Foundation, 'our learning process transcends sport to instil values of respect, commitment and collective responsibility, drawing a parallel with the health of cities, as we believe that protecting the neighbourhood is the first step towards protecting the planet'. In this way, the green-and-white club's campaign is based on the premise of "educating first to grow later, with the aim of projecting a message from the local to the global level, demonstrating that the values sown today in neighbourhoods and stadiums will determine the health and global climate debate of tomorrow," adds Muela.

The limited edition retro-style shirt features a colour palette that combines Real Betis Balompié's corporate green with a darker shade inspired by orange tree leaves and albero, a colour that is synonymous with Seville's aesthetic and a visual hallmark of the city's historical heritage. These features are complemented on the back, where the numbering design incorporates an organic texture reminiscent of orange peel, thus completing the conceptual tribute to Seville's most emblematic fruit.

On a technical level, the T-shirt is made from an innovative blend of low-impact materials: 16.2% organic fibre obtained from orange peels, 37.8% Lyocell (regenerated natural fibres obtained from wood cellulose) and 46% recycled polyester. This combination eliminates the use of virgin plastic, transforming waste into a high-tech garment with a soft, breathable and highly resistant fabric.

The presentation ceremony was also attended by two prestigious experts from the academic world who endorse the scientific and technical basis of the initiative: Eugenio Domínguez Vilches, Professor of Botany at the University of Córdoba and former rector of UNIA and UCO, and Miguel Ángel Campano, researcher at TEP130, professor at the School of Architecture at the University of Seville and secretary of the University Institute of Architecture and Construction Sciences.

Domínguez Vilches addressed the role of urban trees as essential environmental and health infrastructure for cities, emphasising that 'urban trees are not decorative elements, but rather invisible health infrastructure that contributes to improving air quality by retaining and absorbing certain pollutants and directly improving people's health'. An orange tree on the street can be as important for citizens' well-being as a traffic control measure. The professor also stressed the need for proper management and care of trees, as well as the appropriate selection of species.

For his part, Miguel Ángel Campano highlighted the role of 'urban trees as climate infrastructure that makes streets more liveable' and explained that 'shade reduces the solar radiation that people receive', adding that 'trees regulate their surface temperature through evapotranspiration, which limits the radiation emitted by the canopy and improves thermal comfort under the trees'. The expert also pointed out that 'well-integrated trees in the road network contribute to better rainwater management in neighbourhoods, softening runoff peaks into the urban network.'

Real Betis Balompié wanted to advance the climate conversation that continues each season by organising an iconic sustainability match, evolving its message towards caring for the urban ecosystem as the narrative focus, with trees as the central theme. This approach has always been one of the main elements of Forever Green, as urban gardens have played a special role since the platform's inception, and various tree-planting initiatives have been organised, some in collaboration with other European clubs.

The launch of this new shirt, like this project, harnesses the social reach and magnetism of football to address the urgent environmental challenge posed by air pollution. The aim is to use the influence of the beautiful game among audiences less committed to environmental causes to raise awareness and spark debate and action on the need to care for trees and urban green spaces.

The action taken by the green-and-white club focuses on the climate emergency in cities, where, according to the UN, 56% of the world's population currently lives and almost 70% will live by 2050. Given this scenario, protecting the urban landscape, and especially its trees, is a strategic priority due to their ability to create comfortable spaces, making them the most effective tool for responding to the global climate crisis at the local level.

Each season, the Club uses a LaLiga match as a platform to bring a specific environmental challenge to the forefront of the debate. Under this premise, the upcoming Forever Green match against Rayo Vallecano will be the fifth milestone in an initiative that began in 2022 against Athletic Club, a match that laid the foundations with a kit made from 100% recycled polyester, followed in 2023 against RCD Espanyol, a jersey that paid tribute to the "3 Rs" of ecology (reduce, reuse and recycle) through a distressed design.

The evolution of the project has made it possible to continue addressing critical environmental challenges, and in 2024, in the match against UD Almería, the focus was on responsible water management in the face of drought. More recently, in 2025 against Real Sociedad, the sustainability match highlighted the invasion of the Asian algae Rugulopteryx Okamurae on the Andalusian coast, transforming an environmental threat into an opportunity for circular reuse.

Forever Green is Real Betis Balompié's sustainability platform. Launched in 2020, this initiative uses football's global voice and power to mobilise people to drive the fight against climate change and promote social transformation.

This sustained commitment has positioned the green-and-white club as an international benchmark in environmental management, a leadership endorsed by the consulting firm Brand Finance, which ranks Real Betis as the most sustainable club in LaLiga and second in the European ranking.