Women's football focus for World Heart Day

UEFA is giving its support to the World Heart Federation (WHF) and its World Heart Day on Monday – and one specific aspect of the campaign is how women can be more active in football in order to protect the heart.

The World Heart Federation is among UEFA's long-standing social responsibility partners, and World Heart Day – now in its 15th year – is celebrated annually on 29 September with the focus on raising awareness about heart disease and stroke worldwide. Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the number one killer of women and can be largely prevented by leading a healthy, active lifestyle, so the WHF are calling on all women to get active and play a spontaneous game of football with their friends and family.

The WHF have emphasised in the latest video of their 'Make a Healthy Heart Your Goal' campaign that just over 20 minutes of moderate exercise can reduce the risk of heart disease. UEFA is emphasising the many positive consequences for health of doing that through football, a global game accessible to all.

The video features women playing with an official UEFA Women's EURO 2013 ball, a tournament during which UEFA and the WHF joined forces to send out the message about the importance of using football for an active and healthy lifestyle in a campaign fronted by Sweden and Olympique Lyonnais forward Lotta Schelin. The central theme of the video is to "make a heart choice, not a hard choice".

Go to www.worldheartday.org to learn more about World Heart Day and the activities planned in your country.