The World Heart Federation is partnering with UEFA, the Dutch Heart Foundation, the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB), and the Healthy Stadia network to promote heart health and fight against cardiovascular disease ahead of the UEFA Women’s EURO 2017.

Under the theme 'A healthy Heart Your Goal', activities are taking place in the Netherlands and across Europe to encourage children, women and all fans to lead an active, healthy lifestyle and take up sports such as football.

Heart disease and stroke is the number one killer of women in Europe. New research in four European countries reveals that three quarters of women are doing less than the recommended level of activity. There is no lack of willingness to exercise as 72% of women questioned would like to be more active, but they quote embarrassment about their lack of fitness (31%), being too busy (42%) and worries about the cost of exercise (36%) as some of the reasons for not exercising more.

To help reverse this trend, the World Heart Federation encourage women across Europe to join the #MatchFitWoman 28 days challenge: improving their heart health by setting goals to get active for 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week until the Women’s EURO kicks off on 16th July.

The #MatchFitWoman challenge starts on Monday 19 June.