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Mathieu Flamini exclusive interview: 'I have always felt connected to nature so I am using my position to change the world'
One could have forgiven Mathieu Flamini if he had indulged a little. He was 24, a young man in his prime. He had just signed for AC Milan on the kind of wages that someone his age could usually only dream about.
Four years at Arsenal had come to an end when Flamini completed his move to Italy in 2008. He was thrown straight into a team that included Paolo Maldini, Andrea Pirlo, Clarence Seedorf and Ronaldinho. In his third season there, Milan won the Scudetto. It remains the last time any club other than Juventus has done so. It could scarcely have been more glamorous.
But Flamini shunned the life of a typical multi-millionaire footballer: the cars, the fashion, the nightlife. He had his sights set on a post-career business venture, and one with a difference.
Shortly after arriving in Milan, Flamini co-founded GFBiochemicals, a company that produces eco-friendly solvents and detergents. So, why was an international footballer at something approaching the peak years of his career focusing his attentions on a “green” business while team-mates Ronaldinho and Alexandre Pato were living what has since been described as a “playboy lifestyle”?
“My family is from a very small village lost in the mountains in the middle of Corsica,” Flamini says. “In the winter, it has only 80 people. When you come from such a place you are taught to live with nature. From an early age I’ve always felt connected to it.”
It is this connection, he says, that is behind his desire to “drive change”. Having been raised in Marseille, the coast was never far away.
“Living by the sea, growing up I got exposed to many of the world’s problems, like plastic in the sea,” he says. “You could see we were not going in the right direction. So I decided to use my platform as an athlete to drive change.”
Flamini says more sports people need to use their sphere of influence to raise awareness about important issues such as sustainability. There are several occasions during our conversation that Flamini talks of the “social responsibility” that footballers have. The success of his business seems almost secondary to what he is doing.
He insists this isn’t about making money, and is keen to quash reports he has already made a lot of it from a market potentially worth billions.
“It’s like you opening a new fast food restaurant, and then saying your restaurant is worth the same amount as the entire fast food industry. Obviously there is a difference.”
Indeed, spreading the word and recruiting others to this “movement” is uppermost in his thoughts. He helped found Italy’s first master’s degree in bioeconomy – “education is very important, hopefully we can drive the next generation in that direction” – and has also joined forces with one of his most high-profile former team-mates.
Last year, he launched an eco-friendly skincare brand with Mesut Ozil, with whom he became close friends during three years together at Arsenal. While sustainability is Flamini’s main concern, it is another societal problem that drives Ozil.
On a trip to Jordan a few years ago, Ozil was struck by the terrible conditions in which the vast numbers of Syrian refugees there lived. Ozil, a Turkish-born German immigrant, retired from international football after a catastrophic World Cup in Russia last summer, citing “racism and disrespect” from the German FA over his heritage.
“It was not easy for him to stand up for his beliefs and for a real cause,” says Flamini. “What he did by resigning from the German national team was prove to everyone that social equality is very important to him.
“We [footballers] have such massive reach on social media. We have a social responsibility. We have to use it to be able to drive change in a positive way, so why not stand up for the environment and equality? If Mesut, one of the top athletes in the world is facing discrimination, then it must be happening elsewhere.
“We really want to create a community, create a movement, create a voice. It’s not easy for many people to understand climate change or social equality, but most of the people following these athletes are the next generation, so it is our role to use our influence and to have a positive impact.
“We won’t necessarily change the world, but everyone can have an impact in their own community by doing small things. By adding them all together you can make big things happen.”
Recent research by Telegraph Sport found that there was a huge disparity among Premier League clubs in their sustainability initiatives, while there is no pressure from the central governing body to improve matters. The majority of clubs, for example, have no clear set targets for eradicating single-use plastics.
League Two side Forest Green Rovers, the world’s first carbon-neutral football club, and 2018 Super Bowl winners the Philadelphia Eagles – an example Flamini points to – have shown that “going green” does not necessarily compromise success on the pitch.
“It’s not about spending more money,” Flamini says. “What’s wrong these days is to associate sustainable business with additional cost. Solar energy is as cheap as oil. If you look long term you save energy and money. It’s about whether football clubs want to be part of it [the movement].”
Alongside his green ventures, Flamini’s playing career is still going strong and remains his “main passion”. From Milan he returned to Arsenal, then moved on to Crystal Palace, but while his two former English clubs meet on Sunday at the Emirates, Flamini’s focus is in Spain, where he is now, with high-flying Getafe.
His side are fifth in La Liga, just one point behind Sevilla, whom they play on Sunday, in the final Champions League qualifying position. With six games to go, there is a genuine possibility they could break into Europe’s elite competition despite operating with the league’s third-smallest budget. It would be the equivalent of Burnley or Brighton finishing in the Premier League’s top four.
Flamini is enjoying life in Madrid, as his Iberian glow suggests, and at the age of 35 he has no plans to retire just yet.
“I consider myself blessed waking up every day and being able to do what I love most,” Flamini says. “I want to continue until the end of the season and then let’s see after. I like to live in the present. I’m not predicting years ahead. I’m thinking about living with the people I love and having a positive impact and doing what I love most while raising awareness about sustainability.”
Flamini is clear that the world’s problems will not disappear overnight, but also that this is a generation that can make a real difference. He compares how athletes “add percentages” to their performance through eating correctly [Flamini is vegan], getting plenty of sleep and drinking enough water, to the collective impact lots of people can have by making small changes to their lives. For those people in a position of influence, such as footballers, more must be done.
“These days, it isn’t enough just to be an athlete or a footballer, why not become a challenger? That means standing up for your beliefs, standing up for causes and using your platform to create awareness and drive change. I think more athletes want to do that, that’s the future.”