International recognition for football fitness and football professor Peter Krustrup
UEFA has awarded a Gold Award for "Best Social Initiative" to the Football Fitness U90 Training Camp, a project developed by SDU and DBU Bornholm.
In September 2022, the organizers gathered 57 seniors aged 61-85 for a four-day training camp on Bornholm for the Football Fitness U90 Training Camp event.
The participants came from a range of different projects where football is used as a health promotion tool - both physiologically, socially, and mentally, including FC Prostate, Football for the Heart, and Football Fitness U90.
The aim of the training camp was to support and develop the social communities that the elderly are part of. At the same time, there was a focus on highlighting the health and wellbeing potential of lifelong sports participation. Especially in relation to football, this is a unique phenomenon internationally.
- Football is a very special tool because it combines health promotion with camaraderie and fun, explains Peter Krustrup, professor sport and health sciences at the Department of Sports Science and Clinical Biomechanics at SDU, who has been involved in research on football for health for over 20 years.
- Our research has shown that a great many people can benefit from playing football, regardless of their age, gender, and previous sporting experiences, and it is my great hope that this European recognition can contribute to boosting the international spread of recreational football for women and men aged 60, 70, 80, and 90 years.
The participants came from a range of different projects where football is used as a health promotion tool - both physiologically, socially, and mentally, including FC Prostate, Football for the Heart, and Football Fitness U90.
The aim of the training camp was to support and develop the social communities that the elderly are part of. At the same time, there was a focus on highlighting the health and wellbeing potential of lifelong sports participation. Especially in relation to football, this is a unique phenomenon internationally.
Football training is healthy and fun
The initiative has now been awarded a Grassroots Gold Award from UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) for best social initiative in Europe 2022/2023.- Football is a very special tool because it combines health promotion with camaraderie and fun, explains Peter Krustrup, professor sport and health sciences at the Department of Sports Science and Clinical Biomechanics at SDU, who has been involved in research on football for health for over 20 years.
- Our research has shown that a great many people can benefit from playing football, regardless of their age, gender, and previous sporting experiences, and it is my great hope that this European recognition can contribute to boosting the international spread of recreational football for women and men aged 60, 70, 80, and 90 years.
Meet the researcher
Peter Krustrup is professor of ball games at the Department of Sports Science and Clinical Biomechanics at SDU.
Effective prevention and treatment
Peter Krustrup has helped develop the concept of football fitness, a modified form of football training that untrained adults can practice to improve their health and well-being.This has been described in more than 200 scientific articles from Peter Krustrup's research unit.
Research shows that football combines three types of training - high-intensity interval training (HIIT), endurance training, and strength training - all working at the same time making football a really effective hybrid training.
- Football training is a fantastic broadspectrum prevention and treatment of lifestyle diseases, both related to cardiovascular diseases, metabolic diseases and musculoskeletal challenges. That's why we call it medicine. In some cases, football is as good as or even better than pill medication, says Peter Krustrup.
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