Heart health the goal for FAW's new partnership

At the Wales national team open training session in Wrexham on 21 May, the Football Association of Wales (FAW) announced its partnership with Welsh Hearts, The Heart Charity for Wales. The partnership's long-term aim is to deliver life-saving defibrillators, equipment and training to all football clubs in Wales. To kick off the partnership, the national team donated their match fees to fund the first six defibrillators, one for every area association in Wales.

Football clubs and training facilities across Wales often form community hubs and are used by many different sports teams and community groups. However, many of these integral community spaces do not yet have defibrillators installed. The unique partnership between the FAW and Welsh Hearts intends to change this by ensuring that every player and spectator at every football club in Wales, no matter how big or small, will have access to a life-saving defibrillator in future.

"At the Football Association of Wales, we recognise the importance of investing in the health and well-being of our footballers and the wider community using football facilities across the country," explained the medical services manager and lead physiotherapist for the Football Association of Wales, Sean Connelly. "With this partnership we will work together to fundraise so that we can help Welsh Hearts with the amazing work they do for heart health in Wales. We hope that this equipment will minimise the terrible impact of sudden cardiac arrests that have occurred at football grounds throughout Wales."

This article originally appeared in UEFA Direct 179