FIFA’S EVOLVING ROLE IN GLOBAL HEALTH PROMOTION
INTRODUCTION: EXPANDING THE MEDICAL GAME PLAN
Within FIFA Medical, the core responsibility has always been clear: to protect the health and safety of players. From pitch side emergency care and concussion management to tournament medical services, safeguarding and clinical guidelines, the foundation of this work has traditionally been rooted in elite football performance and risk mitigation.
However, football’s reach extends far beyond elite players. Stadiums and Fan Festivals welcome families and communities, while grassroots pitches and schools are filled with children whose lives are shaped not only by the game itself, but by the knowledge, behaviours and environments that surround it.
The evolution of FIFA’s Medical Strategy provides a clear response, the strategy broadens the lens from health in football to health through football, recognising football as a global public health platform rather than a closed sporting ecosystem. Football’s cultural authenticity, emotional impact and global reach create a unique opportunity to deliver prevention focused, evidence based health messages to populations that are often difficult to reach through traditional health systems.
This strategic shift does not replace FIFA’s longstanding commitment to elite medical care; rather, it complements and strengthens it, recognising prevention and education as key components of progressive sports medicine. The Global Health Promotion pillar emerged from this philosophy, with the aim of embedding health education and prevention into FIFA events and programmes in a way that is scalable, inclusive and sustainable.
GLOBAL HEALTH PROMOTION AS PART OF FIFA’S MEDICAL STRATEGY
FIFA’s Medical Strategy is built on a simple principle: health protection should not be exclusive or limited to elite settings. Prevention, education, and early intervention are just as important as emergency response.
The Global Health Promotion pillar sits alongside FIFA’s core medical services and is designed to:
Reach lay audiences, not just medical professionals;
Focus on prevention and early detection;
Leverage football environments: stadiums, Fan Festivals, schools, and community pitches as learning spaces;
Create scalable, adaptable models that can be embedded into FIFA events and programmes worldwide.
This pillar is intended to strengthen the existing medical services by supporting prevention, preparedness and early support beyond clinical settings.
PROJECT 1: HEART HEALTH ACTIVATION AT THE FIFA FAN FESTIVAL™ – SYDNEY 2023
The FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia & New Zealand 2023™ presented an exceptional opportunity to explore how major football events can actively contribute to public health. The Sydney/Gadigal FIFA Fan Festival™ at Tumbalong Park was the largest Fan Festival across all host cities, welcoming more than 250,000 visitors over 25 days.
For the first time at a FIFA Women’s World Cup™, FIFA Medical supported a dedicated heart health activation delivered in collaboration with a local heart health charity. This marked a strategic shift from passive awareness raising to proactive, preventive engagement bringing health services directly into a football celebration environment.
OBJECTIVES AND DESIGN
The activation was designed around clear public health priorities: increasing awareness of cardiovascular health, improving health literacy, encouraging early detection of risk factors, and strengthening community confidence to respond to cardiac emergencies. These objectives were put into practice through free, easily accessible interventions embedded within the Fan Festival setting.
Key components included nurse assisted heart health checks measuring blood pressure, cholesterol and blood glucose; hands on CPR and AED confidence sessions; and a self service Health Station offering basic health metrics. Importantly, the activation was designed to be welcoming and non clinical, ensuring that fans felt comfortable engaging regardless of prior health knowledge or experience. Importantly, all screenings were supported by qualified health professionals on site, ensuring that participants could discuss their results immediately in a safe, supportive and reassuring environment.
RESULTS AND PUBLIC HEALTH SIGNIFICANCE
Beyond participation metrics, the heart health activation provided important insight into unmet health needs within football audiences. By embedding screening, education and professional support within a trusted fan environment, the initiative transformed awareness into meaningful health engagement (Figure 1).
The results demonstrate that a football fan setting can serve as an effective point of contact for identifying previously unrecognised cardiovascular risk and strengthening health literacy. An outstanding proportion of participants required follow-up with primary care services, underscoring the value of opportunistic screening delivered alongside appropriate professional guidance and reassurance.
From a public health perspective, these findings emphasise the role of football environments in bridging gaps between communities and health services, particularly for individuals who may not routinely engage with preventive care. The activation also highlights how combining screening with education and emergency preparedness can create safer, more informed fan environments while increasing health impact beyond traditional clinical settings.
CREATING A LEGACY
Beyond immediate outcomes, the heart health activation served as a proof of concept for integrating preventive health initiatives into FIFA Fan Festivals. As the first activation of its kind delivered at a FIFA Women’s World Cup™, it has informed ongoing discussions around how similar models could be adapted and implemented at future tournaments and major football events.
The long term vision is to embed heart health awareness, emergency preparedness and access to lifesaving knowledge as standard components of the fan experience ensuring that the legacy of major tournaments extends beyond sport to advances in community health.
PROJECT 2: THE FIFA HEALTH EDUCATION ANIMATED SERIES – BUILDING HEALTHY HABITS FOR LIFE
While Fan Festivals provide powerful moments of engagement for adults and families, the long term trajectory of population health is shaped much earlier. Football truly has the power to influence behaviours, for FIFA Medical, this raised a fundamental question: how can that power be used to equip children with knowledge and skills that protect their health for life?
The answer was to move towards prevention, education and early intervention by embedding health education within an existing, trusted global framework. The FIFA Health Education Animated Series was therefore developed within the Football for Schools (F4S) programme, a collaboration between FIFA and UNESCO that integrates football into national education systems while promoting life skills that extend far beyond the pitch.
Currently, 151 FIFA Member Associations are part of the F4S programme, with more than 61 million girls and boys already benefiting globally. Although precise school level data vary by country, it is estimated that well over 14,000 schools are engaged worldwide. This scale provided a unique opportunity: to introduce evidence based health education through a platform that already reaches children in diverse cultural, linguistic and socioeconomic contexts.
PROGRAMME LAUNCH AND GLOBAL POSITIONING
The Health Education Animated Series was launched as a global public health resource rather than a campaign, signalling a long-term commitment to child and adolescent health education through football. Announced through FIFA’s official health and medical communication channels, the launch positioned the series not as a standalone campaign, but as a core component of FIFA’s expanding approach to health promotion through football.
Importantly, the launch emphasised that the series was designed to be both curriculum aligned and universally accessible. While the primary delivery mechanism is through the Football for Schools framework, ensuring age appropriate sequencing, academic consistency and alignment with national education systems, the resources were intentionally made available for use far beyond formal school settings. All materials are freely accessible online, allowing parents, coaches, community leaders and organisations to use them at home, in clubs, or in community environments.
This dual use design reflects a deliberate two fold objective: first, to support structured health education within schools through F4S; and second, to proivde access to reliable, child friendly health information for anyone who wishes to use it. By removing financial and logistical barriers, FIFA reinforces the principle that health education should not be confined to classrooms or dependent on geography.
WHY THESE TOPICS, AND WHY THESE AGES?
The selection of topics and age groupings was intentional and grounded in international public health evidence. Each module was grounded in international evidence and aligned with global public health priorities identified by organisations such as the World Health Organization (WHO), UNESCO and UNICEF.
For children aged 4–7 years, the focus is on foundational habits that are proven to influence lifelong health trajectories. Hand hygiene remains one of the most effective measures for preventing infectious disease transmission in schools and communities, while early dental hygiene addresses one of the most prevalent non communicable conditions affecting children globally. Nutrition education at this age supports healthy growth, immunity and cognitive development, responding directly to global concerns around malnutrition and unhealthy dietary patterns. Basic first aid and household safety modules address preventable injuries, which remain a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in young children worldwide.
For 8–11 year olds, the programme deliberately shifts towards understanding and responsibility. Children are introduced to the anatomy and function of the heart, helping understand how the body works and how lifestyle behaviours influence health. This age group was also identified as an optimal window to introduce emergency response skills. Research and international initiatives have demonstrated that children are capable of learning and retaining cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) skills, and that early exposure builds confidence and willingness to act. The Heart Heroes United module reflects this evidence, providing step by step, age appropriate guidance on recognising an emergency, calling for help, performing CPR and using an automated external defibrillator.
For adolescents aged 12–14 years, the programme addresses topics that are both sensitive and critical. Mental health education responds to evidence that approximately half of all mental health conditions begin by the mid teenage years, highlighting the importance of early awareness, coping strategies and help seeking behaviours. Menstrual health education addresses persistent stigma and misinformation that continue to affect school attendance, participation in sport and self confidence for many girls worldwide. First aid on the pitch and broader health promotion modules equip young people with practical tools to manage sports injuries, make informed health choices and navigate emerging risks related to substance use and lifestyle behaviours.
Together, these topics reflect a life course approach to health education: building habits early, strengthening skills through childhood, and supporting resilience and autonomy during adolescence.
DESIGN: WHY ANIMATION AND STORYTELLING?
The educational design was treated as a central pillar of the programme rather than a secondary consideration. The choice of animation and storytelling as the primary delivery format was intentional and evidence informed. Storytelling has been shown to significantly enhance retention and understanding, making information more memorable and emotionally resonant than traditional didactic approaches. Animation further strengthens this effect by overcoming language barriers, enabling cultural adaptation and engaging visual, auditory and kinaesthetic learners simultaneously.
The series was developed to be inclusive by design. Characters reflect diverse backgrounds, settings and experiences, allowing children to see themselves in the stories regardless of where they live. The modular structure allows educators and facilitators to adapt lessons to local needs, while teaching guides provide practical tools to translate knowledge into action through discussion, role play and hands on activities.
ACCESSIBILITY, LANGUAGES AND GLOBAL USE
Ensuring equitable access was a core design principle of the series.
To maximise reach, the Health Education Animated Series is available in eight languages, with videos, infographics and teaching guides designed for both online and offline use. Materials can be streamed, downloaded, printed or distributed via USB in settings where connectivity is limited. The series is also hosted on FIFA’s digital platforms, making it accessible to a global audience beyond the Football for Schools ecosystem.
This open access approach reinforces the programme’s broader ambition: to serve not only schools participating in F4S, but anyone seeking reliable, age appropriate health education content. Families can use the materials at home, grassroots coaches can integrate them into training sessions, and community organisations can adapt them to local contexts. It’s reach beyond formal education settings is reflected in the Heart Heroes United animation surpassing 450,000 views on FIFA’s YouTube channel. In this way, football becomes not just a platform, but a shared pathway that makes health literacy accessible to all.
PROJECT 3: MENTAL HEALTH AT THE FIFA WORLD CUP 2026™ – A FIRST IN FIFA WORLD CUP HISTORY
Health promotion within football cannot be limited to physical health alone, particularly at the elite level. Elite players, technical staff and medical teams operate under intense pressure, scrutiny and performance expectations, with the added stressor of extended periods away from home. Recognising this, FIFA has taken a significant step forward by integrating structured mental health support into tournament medical services for the FIFA World Cup 2026™.
For the first time in FIFA World Cup history, all participating players and accredited team staff will have access to confidential, professional mental health support throughout the tournament period. This represents an important evolution in how athlete well being is foreseen, acknowledging that psychological health is integral to both performance and overall health.
SCOPE AND DELIVERY OF SUPPORT
The service model provides eligible users with round the clock access to crisis support in each host country, alongside the ability to book remote counselling sessions with licensed mental health professionals across a wide range of languages. In addition to live support, users can access digital self care and psychoeducational resources designed to support stress management, emotional regulation and overall, well being.
Access is granted through anonymous, individual codes distributed via FIFA, ensuring confidentiality and safeguarding personal data. Only anonymised, aggregated utilisation data are available for reporting purposes, reinforcing trust and encouraging uptake. Each registered player and accredited team staff member is eligible for a defined number of counselling sessions, ensuring equitable access across all participating teams.
WHY MENTAL HEALTH MATTERS IN ELITE FOOTBALL
The inclusion of mental health services reflects a growing body of evidence demonstrating that psychological well being is inseparable from physical health and performance. Despite increased awareness, stigma and barriers to care remain prevalent in elite sport. By embedding mental health support within the official medical framework of a FIFA World Cup™, seeking help is normalised as part of standard athlete care rather than framed as an exception.
This initiative also aligns with FIFA’s broader health promotion philosophy: prevention, early support and normalisation of care. While delivered in an elite setting, the message resonates far beyond the tournament itself, reinforcing the idea that mental health is a fundamental component of health at every level of the game.
DISCUSSION: PLAYING THE LONG GAME
Across these initiatives, a consistent principle is clear: effective health promotion requires meeting people where they already are. Football environments, Fan Festivals, schools, community pitches and major tournaments, all provide trusted, emotionally engaging spaces in which health messages can be delivered without stigma or exclusion.
From a public health perspective, this approach aligns with established evidence that prevention, early education and community based interventions yield the greatest long term impact. Cardiovascular disease, mental health conditions and many non communicable diseases share common risk factors that are modifiable through early awareness, behavioural change and supportive environments. Football based health promotion offers a practical mechanism to address these factors at scale.
Importantly, these initiatives are not viewed as isolated projects. They form part of a growing portfolio of health promotion activities that are being developed to sit alongside FIFA tournaments and programmes. Future initiatives in the pipeline will continue to integrate health education, screening and psychosocial support into major events, Fan Festivals and grassroots infrastructures, reinforcing the concept of football as a consistent and credible health promoting setting.
What unites this work is a deliberate shift away from one off awareness campaigns towards embedded legacy models. The objective is not only to inform, but to normalise health seeking behaviours, whether that means knowing one’s heart health numbers, feeling confident to intervene in an emergency, or recognising when psychological support is needed.
CONCLUSION: THE FINAL WHISTLE IS JUST THE BEGINNING
If football is to fulfil its potential as a force for positive global change, health must be central to that mission. FIFA’s Global Health Promotion pillar demonstrates how a governing body traditionally associated with elite sport can responsibly leverage its platform to support prevention, education and well being across diverse populations.
This work is grounded in collaboration, between medical experts, educators, charities, public health organisations and local stakeholders, and informed by scientific evidence and global health frameworks. By embedding health promotion into football environments that people already trust and value, FIFA is contributing to safer events, more informed communities and more resilient individuals.
Ultimately, the impact of these initiatives extends beyond metrics and media reach and cannot be fully captured through quantitative indicators alone. It is reflected in the child who learns life saving skills at school, the fan who understands their cardiovascular risk for the first time, and the player who accesses mental health support without fear or stigma.
When the world stops for football, attention is guaranteed. The challenge, and the responsibility, is to ensure that this attention is used not only to celebrate the game, but to improve lives. In this sense, the final whistle is not the end of the match, but the beginning of a lasting health legacy.
Khloud Sebak PGDip (Anatomical Sciences), BSc (Exercise Science), Minor in Biology
FIFA Senior Health & Medical Projects Manager
Andy Massey
MB BCh BAO MSc(Sports Medicine) MSc(Medical Ultrasound) MSc(Sports Physiotherapy) BSc(Hons)(Physiotherapy) MRCGP FFSEM(UK) FFSEM(Ire) FFMLM
FIFA Medical Director
Chair FIFA Medical Committee
FIFA Medical, Fédération Internationale de Football Association
Zurich, Switzerland
Contact: khloud.sebak@fifa.org
Header Image by Eslam Mohammed Abdelmaksoud (Cropped)