Active Fans Europe

The Active Fans programme is a project funded by the European Commission that ran from January 2018 until June 2020 and was implemented by a consortium that consisted of Bayer 04 Leverkusen, EFDN Foundation, Feyenoord Rotterdam, Ferencváros TC, Fulham FC Foundation, KAA Gent, PSV, Rangers Charity Foundation, Valerenga, and Vitesse Betrokken.The Active Fans consortium managed to reach upwards of 400 people, that were older than 35 years old, who were interested in changing their lifestyle, wanted to get physically active again, and improve their diets. The Active Fans was coordinated by EFDN and was delivered in collaboration with nine partners. These project partners are: Fulham FC Foundation, Stichting Vitesse Betrokken, Bayer 04 Leverkusen, Rangers FC Foundation, Ferencvaros TC, PSV Foundation, Feyenoord Rotterdam, KAA Gent and Valerenga Fotball.This project promoted the aims of the HEPA Guidelines and the true European values of sport and intended to increase the awareness of the role of sport in promoting health-enhancing physical activities, social inclusion, and equal opportunities. Additionally, the Active Fans project also ensured an increased participation in sport, physical activity, and voluntary activity of a target group that could be considered hard to reach.Throughout this programme, participants learned a lot about nutrition, and as they got more physically active, they began to feel the benefits of weight loss and increased energy levels. The goal was to develop a user-friendly, cost-effective, and innovative methodology that could be used by all relevant organisations and clubs in Europe.The Active Fans methodology was based on the Football Fans in Training (FFIT) methodology and two other football-based health interventions. Within Active Fans, we have combined the best practices of all 3 methodologies and tested the Healthy Football League, an app-based health competition that uses the rivalry between fans to get them active. The results of the whole programme are truly positive as the online competition has proven that fans are indeed motivated to move more while competing for their favourite football club as well as that the 400 participants are indeed healthier and experienced significant weight loss.