Purpose: Data examining whether recreational football is safe for older adults to undertake is current not available and there are questions as to whether recreational football is safe for older adults to undertake. This study addresses this issue by determine the incidence of injury during a pan-European recreational football for health intervention undertaken by adults aged 60-80 years.

Methods: Community dwelling older adults, aged 60-80 years (n=74, 19 females, 55 males) undertook a 12-week, twice-weekly, recreational football for health programme in four different countries (UK, Denmark, France, Finland). Injuries were recorded after every session in terms of nature, severity and how the injury occurred. Injury severity was recorded using the FIFA consensus statement on injury recording. Data are presented as number of injuries per hour, exposure risk hours and injury numbers per 1000 hours.

Results: Irrespective of country, injury incidence during recreational football for health in older adults is classified as low with injury rates between 2.3-0.5 per 1000 hours per participant. Higher injury rates were observed on macadam playing surfaces (.03 injuries per hour of play) compared to artificial turf (.014 injuries per hour of play) or indoor wooden floor (.017 injuries per hour of play).

Conclusions: The data presented here are the first to explore injury prevalence resulting from recreational football in older adults and should be seen as an initial exploration of the topic, based on data collected in community football programmes in four countries. These initial findings suggest that injury prevalence is low in supervised, recreational football in older adults. Such information establishes that this form of physical activity is safe for older adults to undertake and is a key needed step for community physical activity providers and practitioners wishing to use football related programmes to enhance older adult health.

Methods: Community dwelling older adults, aged 60-76 years (n=22, 8 females, 14 males) took part to a 12-week recreational football intervention in Finland. Training was organized twice a week for an hour per session. Recreational football session consisted a thorough warm-up, football skill session and small-sided games. Games encountered half of time in the training sessions. Prior and after the training intervention, 6-minute walk test (6MWT), 10-meter walk test (10MWT) and 8-foot timed-up-and-go (TUG) test were conducted to assess the effects of recreational football on participant´s fitness and functioning.

Results: The mean attendance was 19,6/24 (81,6%) times. Endurance measured with 6MWT, improved significantly 30,4m (631,8m to 662,2m; sig .001). Walking speed monitored by 10MWT decreased significantly 0,2s (4,3s to 4,1s; sig .043). Agility measure TUG showed significant improvement in average 0,7s (4,4s to 3,8s; sig .000). A small control group (n=10, 1 female, 9 males) showed no improvements on these tests during the same time period.

Conclusions: This data from Finnish community dwelling older adults playing recreational football is derived from multinational EU Erasmus+ Sport funded project. These results are very much in line with the data and experiences from the other participant countries (UK, Denmark, France, Spain). These findings support the idea that recreational football is all-in-one training that can enhance physical fitness and functioning of the older adults. Unlike many other sports prescribed to older adults (e.g. walking or swimming), football can be intensive activity. Activities with intensity are needed to maintain good functioning and healthy aging. It can be concluded that recreational football is adjustable, variable, social, and fun for participants of all skill levels.

Purpose: Physical inactivity is prevalent in older adults and contributes to age-related decline in function, health, wellbeing and quality of life. Strategies to promote physical activity in this population are essential to improve health outcomes and offset the economic burden associated with an ageing population. Recreational football for older adults has shown promise for promoting health benefits. The physiological benefits of recreational football are well documented in the literature. However, no studies have looked at the experiences of those who take part in it. While understanding the physical demands of recreational football, which is more dynamic than say, walking football is important, it is more essential to understand how participants experience this activity to better direct providers planning to run recreational football in older adults.

Methods: This novel study utilises the Behaviour Change Wheel and COM-B model to discover older adult recreational footballers' lived experiences and find which behaviours can encourage changes to sedentary lifestyles in this population. Fourteen participants (67±5.1 years), who had previously taken part in a recreational football intervention, shared their perceptions from participating in a recreational football programme during two focus groups. Transcripts were thematically analysed, looking for incidences of the COM-B model. The participants' responses were grouped into three cluster themes which were then organised into sub-themes of capability, opportunity, and motivation. 

Results: The main finding from this study was that the barriers around physical opportunity need to be addressed to increase physical activity in older adults but, arguably of greater importance to maintain adherence to a physically active lifestyle, there must be an opportunity for reflective motivation and the chance for social opportunity. 

Conclusion: The use of the Behaviour Change Wheel in the present study, to identify the capability, opportunity, and motivation for playing recreational football, is a unique feature, which is crucial in enabling public health practitioners, community sport and local government providers to construct effective interventions to increase physical activity in an older adult population. Identifying the importance of physical opportunity, reflective motivation, and social opportunity are significant when it comes to looking at the sustainability of recreational football for health.