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Sudden death in football

FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) officially launched a worldwide Sudden Death Registry (SDR) in January 2014 to document fatal events in football. For more information, please click on the menu tab on the left.

The sudden death (SD) of an apparently healthy athlete is a rare tragic event which attracts an abundance of media attention, especially when elite athletes are involved. Vigorous exertion increases the risk of fatal cardiac events by three- to four-fold, since it acts as a trigger for malignant arrhythmias in the presence of underlying cardiovascular diseases. However, overall, regular physical activity is associated with a protective effect even when considering the temporary hazards experienced during athletic activity. 

The aim of this registry (FIFA-SDR) is to detect the frequency of sudden death during football and to identify their causes as precisely as possible. Thus, existing screening and preventive measures will be improved or supplemented to help to prevent some of these deaths in the future.