Football harms not only athletes but also fans
Professional football means constant strain on the heart, joints, and spine. But another at-risk group is far less frequently mentioned — football fans. According to cardiologists, during major tournaments the number of ambulance calls increases by 20–30%. The viewer’s brain reacts to the game as if it were a real threat, triggering a stress response. What exactly happens to the body when we sit down to watch football?
Fans experience stress even before the match begins
Emotional attachment to a national team causes our bodies to produce the stress hormone cortisol. Moreover, this reaction doesn’t even require turning on a broadcast or watching dangerous moments in the penalty area.
When researchers analyzed smartwatch data from fans of a German team over 12 weeks, they discovered an astonishing pattern. It turned out that stress levels begin to rise 14 hours before the opening whistle. A fan’s body prepares for the match in advance, remaining in a state of constant physiological tension throughout the entire day. This and much more was reported by the authors at Popular Science.
How watching football affects the heart
In addition to cortisol release, during tense moments the ancient fight-or-flight response kicks in. Adrenaline and other chemicals flood the bloodstream, forcing internal organs to work at the limits of their capabilities.
This chemical cocktail triggers several dangerous processes in the body simultaneously:
- the heart begins beating much faster, demanding additional portions of oxygen;
- blood pressure rises, creating intense strain on the blood vessels;
- the blood vessels feeding the heart muscle itself sharply constrict due to stress hormones.
A critical paradox arises. At the moment when the heart requires the maximum amount of oxygen, the constricted vessels physically cannot deliver it. It is precisely this mismatch between the body’s needs and capabilities that can provoke a heart attack in a viewer.
Heart problems while watching football
Medical statistics from major tournaments fully confirm these physiological mechanisms. During the 2006 World Cup in Germany, doctors found that watching a tense match doubled the risk of heart problems for fans on that specific day.
A similar picture was observed during the 1998 World Cup. On the day England lost to Argentina in a dramatic penalty shootout, the number of heart attack hospitalizations jumped by 25%. Notably, this spike persisted for two more days after the game and concerned exclusively heart attacks, not other ailments.
Studies of regional leagues in Spain also showed a 30% increase in hospitalizations among men who already had heart problems on days when their favorite clubs lost.
However, doctors urge people not to panic. Although watching football does indeed put a strain on the cardiovascular system, for healthy individuals the baseline risk of a heart attack remains very low, and football does not turn it into a critical threat.
How football affects hormones and birth rates
Football affects not only the heart but also the endocrine system. During the 2010 World Cup final between Spain and the Netherlands, viewers experienced sharp increases in testosterone levels right during the broadcast.
This hormone is traditionally released in response to competitive situations. Scientists note that the body reacts to the confrontation as if the person were fighting for the cup on the field themselves. Moreover, this hormonal surge occurred regardless of sex, age, or how devoted the fan was to their team.
Football euphoria also has more positive consequences. The long-standing urban legend that major tournaments lead to a baby boom nine months later has received scientific backing. During the 2024 European Championship, researchers tracked the behavior of nearly a thousand residents from five countries.
It was found that in the days following a national team victory, fans’ sexual activity increased by 27% compared to periods after defeats. Mass celebrations have long facilitated bringing people closer together, turning football joy into physical intimacy.
Our brain evolved in such a way that deep emotional empathy triggers the same biological mechanisms as actual participation in an event. A football match generates not illusory but quite tangible reactions: from vessel constriction and blood pressure spikes to powerful testosterone surges. This proves that sport is an intense, unpredictable workout for a fan’s entire nervous and hormonal system.
