Scientists: the beautiful game is a silver bullet for global health

(Press-News.org) Danish researchers, in collaboration with the Danish Football Association, have released a White Paper that describes football as an effective recipe in the prevention and treatment of lifestyle-related diseases. The White Paper entitled Football as Prevention and Treatment - A White Paper Focusing on 10 Non-Communicable Diseases and Risk Factors – compiles and presents research and practical experience from over 20 years of implementing recreational football training in Denmark and several other countries.

The authors also provide best practice examples on how recreational football training can be used as a health promoting activity for untrained individuals across the lifespan.

Football as Hybrid Training for Global Health "Football training is a great example of Exercise is Medicine because it is hybrid training that combines three types of training - endurance training, high-intensity interval training, and strength training – thereby making it an optimal way to improve musculoskeletal fitness, metabolic fitness, and cardiovascular fitness concomitantly," explains Professor Peter Krustrup.

"Our research demonstrates solid evidence that twice-weekly one-hour football training sessions are highly effective for improving aerobic fitness and heart health, and just as effective as pharmacological medication in lowering blood pressure, and a great tool for improving postural balance and bone strength, thereby preventing falls and fractures."

“Actually, considering the enormous popularity of football worldwide, it is fair to say that the beautiful game is a silver bullet for global health”, says Professor Krustrup. 

Football for Disease Prevention and Treatment In the White Paper, a total of 25 researchers from 12 different research institutions, provide detailed insights into the use of football training for addressing high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, osteoporosis, musculoskeletal disorders, obesity, high cholesterol, breast cancer, prostate cancer, and mental health challenges.

The White Paper consists of 80 pages, based on years of efforts to map and explain the field. It includes 10 chapters on different lifestyle diseases and their associated risk factors.

The publication also describes how this knowledge can be activated through evidence-based football concepts that can be implemented and scaled up through collaboration between researchers, sports organizations, hospitals, and healthcare professionals.

Football Training as a Playful Team Sport for Everybody "Our research shows that recreational football is a playful, team-based activity that is fun, motivating, and social, and importantly, that the training effects are completely independent of technical skills and prior football experience." says Thomas Rostgaard Andersen, adjunct professor, and co-editor of the White Paper.

"Based on the conclusions in the White Paper, it is reasonable to suggest that healthcare systems could beneficially prescribe football not only as a preventive measure and an initial treatment for cardiovascular diseases, pre-diabetes, and osteoporosis, but also as an essential component of rehabilitation for prostate cancer patients and breast cancer survivors," says Andersen, and continues,

“One of the studies featured in the White Paper, involving a group of prostate cancer patients playing football over a 1-year period, showed 40% fewer hospital admissions compared to a control group of physically inactive patients in the same age group”.

Scalable to Make a Global Impact The positive effects of recreational football as a training method for patient groups have the potential to impact healthcare providers worldwide.

The Danish Football Association (DBU) has repeatedly invested resources in development collaborations with researchers. This partnership has led to the creation of several projects and initiatives where recreational football concepts have helped various populations improve health and well-being, including:

Football Fitness – using recreational football for the prevention of lifestyle diseases Football for the Heart – using recreational football to address cardiovascular diseases FC Prostate – integrating recreational football into the rehabilitation of men undergoing anti-hormonal treatment for prostate cancer 11 for Health – using recreational football to enhance physical fitness, well-being and learning among school children "These evidence-based training concepts have great potential for international scaling and expansion, and we would be delighted if Danish-developed training concepts could contribute to improving health and well-being in other parts of the world," says Erik Brøgger Rasmussen, Director of the Danish Football Association. The researchers have ambitions for further investigations and large-scale implementation.

Research on and implementation of 'Football Fitness' and '11 for Health' are supported by the Nordea Foundation. '11 for Health’ also received funding from FIFA. 'Football Fitness,' 'FC Prostate,' and 'Football for the Heart' are supported by TrygFonden; 'Football for the Heart' is supported by The Danish Heart Foundation, and 'FC Prostate' is supported by PROPA Denmark.

A Recipe for Modern Health Promotion Recreational football can be described as a blueprint for a new approach to using physical activity for health promotion—an exercise form that serves as both an effective training tool and a means of promoting well-being and social interaction.

This concept is encapsulated in the holistic Football is Medicine model, which was fully introduced with the launch of the international Football is Medicine platform in 2018 under the slogan: Football is Medicine – it is time for patients to play!

The Football is Medicine model provides an educational explanation of the field and can be seen in this short film: [INSERT LINK to the video uploaded to EurekAlert].

The FIM researchers are currently examining football training as an alternative to pharmacological treatment of osteopenia, sarcopenia, obesity, and type 2 diabetes, and to what extent football can slow biological aging. Moreover, they are examining whether with low-to-moderate intensity walking football can be used as an alternative to recreational football, especially for frail participant groups.

The Football is Medicine platform hosts annual conferences and currently has around 300 active members from 25 countries, along with a steering group of 23 members from 16 countries. The 8th annual Football is Medicine conference will be held in Funchal, Madeira, from 21-24 January 2026.

Further Information The White Paper title:

Football as Prevention and Treatment - A White Paper Focusing on 10 Non-Communicable Diseases and Risk Factors. Bennike S., Andersen TR., Krustrup P. (eds.). Danish Football Association & University of Southern Denmark, 2024.

and download the White Paper here: https://www.sdu.dk/en/fim

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