Football fans at the FIFA World Cup 2026™ are being offered the chance to learn Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR), an initiative that shows the biggest sporting event in history can also be used to make the world a healthier place. More than 350,000 people suffer a cardiac arrest outside a hospital in the United States every year but their survival chances improve dramatically with immediate CPR – a simple but lifesaving emergency procedure performed when the heart stops beating. At the FIFA World Cup 2026, fans are being given the chance to become lifesavers, as FIFA Medical and the American Heart Association (AHA) join forces to show fans how to recognise a cardiac arrest, practise hands-only CPR and understand how immediate action can help save lives. During the tournament, the AHA’s Nation of Lifesavers Mobile CPR Unit are appearing at the FIFA Fan Festival in Atlanta, Georgia, Dallas, Texas and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, welcoming thousands of supporters from around the world during the tournament celebrations. The unit has also appeared in the New York/New Jersey Bronx fanzone.

“If we can reinforce how easy it is to do CPR, then, because it’s so simple, people will carry that through for the rest of their lives. They’ll not be scared to have to step in whenever they need to,” said FIFA Director of Medical, Dr Andrew Massey, at the Dallas Fan Festival. “They’ll see how easy it is. And then, as I said, you can talk to your neighbour, you can talk to your friend, you can talk to your family about how easy it is and have that ongoing education once you leave the activations like this and try and spread your own word about hands-only CPR.” Dr Massey explained that football – and, in particular, the FIFA World Cup™ with more than six billion people engaging around the world – was the ideal opportunity to get the message across. “You’re able to just open so many more doors, and hopefully make people more healthy, so that they can enjoy the competition then as well,” he said. “Every kid wants to be a footballer. Every kid has heroes who are playing on the pitches now. I am delighted if we can use the power of football to help promote great initiatives such as CPR. It makes the world a healthier place. It makes it a safer place, and certainly on football pitches, can make it more enjoyable and safer.”

FIFA’s first campaign to promote heart health was launched at the FIFA Women's World Cup Australia & New Zealand 2023™ in partnership with the Australian-based not-for-profit organisation Heartbeat of Football. Fans visiting Sydney/Gadigal Fan Festival™ could have their blood sugar, blood pressure and cholesterol checked for free, with results delivered on the spot and receive critical first aid training on how to respond to someone suffering a cardiac arrest. FIFA’s work has been further complemented by a number of confederations and Member Associations with fantastic CPR campaigns to raise global awareness of the importance of CPR. FIFA launched its “Heart Heroes United” health initiative in 2025 with a video educating young people on how to react if they saw somebody suffer a cardiac arrest and has also rolled out a heart health awareness programme to all 211 FIFA Member Associations (MAs). The AHA has also partnered with FIFA at the FIFA Arena in Central Park to send the message to the more than 5,000 children who will benefit.

“The more people that we can get together with health activations, especially whenever it comes to CPR, the better,” Dr Massey said. “Hopefully, this is another stepping stone to getting more and more people working within health, making football healthier, and learning hands-only CPR. Nancy Brown, CEO of the American Heart Association, thanked FIFA for the partnership and for providing a “tremendous platform”. “We have seen an amazing impact from partnering with organisations like FIFA in the past. When we're able to capture the spirit and the enthusiasm of a platform like FIFA's and take that CPR education and hands-only CPR to events, it's been amazing,” she said. “We've trained tens of thousands of people in the life-saving skill of hands-only CPR, and that's why we're so proud of our relationship with FIFA.”

This FIFA Fan Festival programme forms part of FIFA Medical’s ongoing approach to creating lasting health and well-being legacies linked to FIFA competitions, extending the positive off-field impact of the tournaments into communities worldwide. “For us, success is one person going away with the confidence to perform CPR if they sol need to do it,” Dr Massey concluded. “If we can get one person qualified to do that, then we’d be very successful.”