European Fans in Training

The goal of the European Fans in Training or ‘EuroFIT’ project was to harness the ‘love of the game’ to engage male football fans in health-promoting lifestyle changes through their loyalty and attachment to their favourite football clubs.

Using football language, football facilities and football coaches, researchers aimed to leverage the power of football to inspire men in England, the Netherlands, Norway and Portugal to make improvements to their diet, physical activity levels, and overall cardiovascular health and sustain them beyond the end of the programme.

The EuroFIT programme was developed by bringing fans, professional football clubs and public health experts together to tackle the problem of how to engage inactive men in positive lifestyle change.

Working with practitioners and academics from across Europe, the EuroFIT team co-developed a bespoke, gold-standard, 12-week physical activity programme, to be delivered by club coaches in club facilities, to encourage men to lose weight, get active and feel more positive.

EuroFIT has successfully changed the lives of over a thousand men in Europe through professional football clubs and their community coaches. The programme uses novel technologies including state-of-the-art physical activity and sedentary time trackers, and leading behaviour change theories designed to initiate and maintain positive lifestyle choices to support participants throughout the 12-week delivery period and beyond.

The project has been designed to allow for widespread replication, and is the only physical activity programme that has been proven effective in different European countries, communities and settings.

If your club, national association or league operator is interested in the EuroFIT programme, please click the button opposite to learn more about the success of the programme and how you can get involved.