The first edition of the European Week of Sport (EWoS), an international initiative of the European Commission, has been launched on Monday (7 September) to encourage Europeans to be more physically active in their daily lives.

The Europe-wide initiative, which is taking place between 7 and 13 September, includes a high-level conference on sport and physical activity, a communications campaign and a series of sports events that will take place across Europe.

Hundreds of activities will be organised under the #BeActive theme with a total of 31 countries taking part in the campaign. The aim is to reach out to people in different environments, with different backgrounds, ages and fitness levels and inspire them to do sport and be active not just during the week, but all year round.

The initiative was created in response to the low engagement of Europeans in sport and physical activity, where numbers showed that 59% of Europeans never or seldom exercise or play sport.

The EWoS is calling on decision-makers and teachers, parents and employers, young people and urban planners to participate and help create a society that better values and supports sport and physical activity.

Ambassadors from the football world have pledged their support to the campaign, including the former Dutch international Clarence Seedorf, Steven Gerrard, among several other sporting stars.

At the launching event Seedorf said: "All of us have the responsibility to look at the means to implement sport in our society. On the other hand, sport is an important catalyst to make a substancial contribution to solve challenges such as intolerance, discrimination, obesity, among others.

"The challenges our society faces have been known for a while now and it is time to look at the solutions. Today's event and the EWoS are a great platform to start doing exactly that. Today is about what we can achieve together. All stakeholders need to step up."

In support of the EWoS Fare will be attendance at the European Commission two-day conference kicking-off the initiative in Brussels.