The ‘Every Minute Matters’ campaign has smashed its target for the 2024-25 season, having taught lifesaving CPR to over 270,000 football fans.

Sky Bet and the British Heart Foundation set out to educate the equivalent of three times the capacity of Wembley Stadium at the start of the campaign and achieved the remarkable feat with two months to spare.

Eager to continue teaching fans how to use the British Heart Foundation’s online RevivR tool and learn CPR, the ‘Every Minute Matters’ campaign has now set a new target of 360,000 supporters, which equates to four times the capacity England’s national football venue.

Every month, more than 2,500 people in the United Kingdom suffer an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest — and fewer than one in every 10 people survive due to a lack of knowledge.

Every minute that passes following a cardiac arrest reduces the chances of survival by up to 10 per cent. 

Sky Bet and the British Heart Foundation’s ‘Every Minute Matters’ campaign has smashed its target for the 2024-25 season, having taught lifesaving CPR to over 270,000 football fans

The milestone was reached shortly after the campaign’s 4,000km relay hit its halfway mark

Luton star Tom Lockyer, who suffered a cardiac arrest during a Premier League game in 2023, described the milestone as ‘incredible’ and said ‘we’ve created a small army of lifesavers’ 

The 270,000 milestone was reached shortly after the campaign’s 4,000km relay hit its halfway mark, with several sports stars already completing the first leg of their 28-day relay across England and Wales to raise awareness and encourage fans to learn lifesaving CPR. 

Ex-England international Phil Jagielka and former Premier League manager Sam Allardyce are among those who will take part in the relay next week, taking in every one of the English Football League’s 72 clubs along the way.

Luton Town captain Tom Lockyer, who suffered a cardiac arrest during the Hatters’ Premier League clash with Bournemouth in December 2023, is also an ambassador of the ‘Every Minute Matters’ campaign, which was first launched at Wembley in May last year.

After the campaign reached its 270,000 milestone, Lockyer said: ‘Thinking back to last May, and taking the pitch with the likes of Graeme Souness, Glenn Hoddle and David Ginola, it’s just incredible to think of how much we’ve achieved. 

‘Hitting the 270,000 milestone is incredible, and every single person now has a unique skill in the hands. We’ve created a small army of lifesavers.

‘I’m so proud of the efforts of everyone involved. We can now move the goalposts and put every effort into getting the number up to four Wembleys, from three – 360,000 people.’

Dr Charmaine Griffiths, Chief Executive at the British Heart Foundation (BHF), added: ‘In less than a year, we’ve seen hundreds of thousands of people rally behind Every Minute Matters and start learning vital CPR.

Former Premier League hardman Vinnie Jones is an ambassador of ‘Every Minute Matters’

Former England manager Glenn Hoddle is another sports star encourage fans to learn CPR

Sunderland players sport ‘Every Minute Matters’ shirts to raise awareness for the campaign

‘It’s incredible that this campaign has reached its ambitious target, and our heartfelt thanks goes to Sky Bet, the football community, talent, fans, the wider public and the UK media for their support and dedication to getting us there.

‘But we aren’t stopping here. We are now aiming even higher and hope an extra Wembley stadium learns CPR with RevivR by the end of May, in our efforts to ensure more lives are saved from out-of-hospital cardiac arrests.’

Meanwhile, Dan Colton, Managing Director of Sky Bet, said: ‘We’re incredibly proud of the Every Minute Matters campaign and all that it has achieved. As we head into the football equivalent of injury time, this is the moment that matters. 

‘If we can hit this new target of 360,000 people taking 15 minutes to learn CPR using the British Heart Foundation’s online RevivR tool, there’s no telling how many lives will potentially be saved.’

To learn CPR in just 15 minutes, visit bhf.org.uk/revivr