BHF turns World Cup hydration breaks into a lifesaving conversation
Our new Three Minutes to Kill campaign highlights that every three minutes, someone in the UK dies from cardiovascular disease, and encourages fans to use breaks in play to donate to BHF’s lifesaving research.
Former Wales international and BHF Ambassador Tom Lockyer, alongside former Wigan Athletic striker Charlie Wyke and Bristol Rovers defender Jack Sparkes, are backing the campaign and urging supporters to use the breaks in play to donate to BHF and help fund lifesaving research.
Turning dead time into a chance to save lives
During a 90-minute football match, around 30 people in the UK will die from cardiovascular disease, including conditions such as heart attack and stroke. Over the course of the 39-day World Cup tournament, around 19,000 people in the UK are expected to lose their lives to cardiovascular disease.
BHF is asking fans to use the tournament’s hydration breaks – often described as "three minutes to kill" while play is paused – to do something meaningful by donating to help fund research into the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of heart and circulatory diseases.
Tom Lockyer understands the importance of every minute. After suffering a cardiac arrest during a match in December 2023 and being fitted with an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD), he became a British Heart Foundation ambassador and has used his story to help raise awareness of cardiovascular disease.
He said: "Everyone watches these hydration breaks and thinks 'three minutes to kill', but every three minutes, someone in the UK dies from cardiovascular disease. That is not dead time, it is time we can use to make a difference by donating to BHF."
Personal stories driving change
Former footballer Charlie Wyke, who survived a cardiac arrest during training in 2021, is also supporting the campaign. He believes football can play an important role in raising awareness of cardiovascular disease and helping fund research that could save more lives in the future.
For Jack Sparkes, the campaign is particularly personal. His daughter Lily was diagnosed with a congenital heart condition after doctors discovered a hole in her heart when she was three years old. He says supporting heart research is about giving more families hope for the future.
Funding research that could save the next life
The campaign also highlights the pioneering research our supporters fund. This includes groundbreaking work from Professor Charalambos Antoniades at the University of Oxford, who has developed CaRi-Heart®, an artificial intelligence tool that can help predict someone's risk of having a heart attack years before it happens.
Innovations like these have the potential to transform how heart attacks are prevented and treated, helping more people live longer, healthier lives.
Dr Charmaine Griffiths, our Chief Executive, said: "Every three minutes, another family in the UK loses someone they love to cardiovascular disease. Through Three Minutes to Kill, we're turning a pause in play into a moment that could help save lives.
"Football has an incredible power to bring people together, and we're asking fans to use these three-minute breaks to donate to the BHF. Your support could help fund the next generation of lifesaving cardiovascular research."