Don T. Kirkendall -Ph.D., FACSM, is an exercise physiologist. Don is also a lifelong player and licensed coach with a PhD in exercise science who continued his love of The Beautiful Game’ by studying soccer on multiple levels. With over 80 published peer-reviewed publications, many focused on soccer, Don brings a broad perspective on training, nutrition, and specific topics in football medicine. He is a Member of F-MARC and sits on the US Soccer Sports Medicine Advisory Committee. Don Kirkendall is one of the early pioneers in soccer research.

Susana Póvas -is an Assistant Professor at the University Institute of Maia and member of the Research Center in Sports Sciences, Health Sciences and Human Development, in Portugal. Her research is focused on tracking, testing and performance enhancement of youth and elite-level team sports athletes and on physical activity and exercise, including the effects of recreational team sports on health and physical fitness of different populations across the lifespan. She is currently the international coordinator of the Handball4Health project and the national Portuguese coordinator of the Football Fitness programme.

Emmanuel Stamatakis -is professor of physical activity, lifestyle and population health and leader of the physical activity Theme at the Charles Perkins Centre, University of Sydney. Emmanuel previously worked at University College London (UK) for over 10 years. He is the co-Chair of the World Health Organisation Guidelines Development Group tasked with producing the global 2020 physical activity and sedentary behaviour. He is also one of the three Editors of the high-impact British Journal of Sports Medicine, as well as the editor-in-chief of BMJ Open, Sports and Exercise Medicine.

Statement on the topic of football is medicine by Peter Krustrup, professor of Sport and Health Sciences, University of Southern Denmark, and Honorary Visiting Professor of Exeter University, UK, and Guest Professor at Shanghai University of Sport, China. Peter is a world leading expert in football science. He has authored 300 original research articles, of which 140 deals the fitness and health effects of football and other sports, and another 90 dealing with physical-tactical-techncal match analyses, fatigue, recovery, training and testing in elite football. He is a UEFA Pro-License football coach and has been working as assistant coach for the Danish Women’s national team 2012-2014, and fitness coach from January 2019. Started his pioneering research in Football for Health back in 2003 and is now the leader of a Football is Medicine group of 225 researchers more than 20 countries.

This scientific conference will for the 3rd time bring together expert researchers from around the globe to present and discuss the increasing evidence of recreational football as a tool for the prevention and treatment of various non-communicable diseases. The first Football is Medicine conference was held in Lisboa, Portugal in 2018 with 300 participants and the second in Odense, Denmark in 2019 with around 200 participants. The conference 2020 will be held at the Faculty of Health Science at the University of the Faroe Islands, in Tórshavn the capital of the Faroe Islands. Tórshavn is the cultural and administrational center of the Faroe Islands named after Thor, the god of thunder from Norse mythology. The Faroe Islands are located in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean. The country encompasses 18 islands with the main islands being inter-connected by bridges and tunnels. The Faroe Islands are easily reached, with flights from Denmark, Norway, Iceland or Scotland. Tórshavn offers accommodation at a range of prices, from more expensive hotels to youth hostels and bed & breakfast. A fixed number of rooms will be pre-booked for conference delegates. The hotels are conveniently located within walking distance from the congress venue. You can easily explore the city and the surrounding spectacular nature by foot or bicycle. We hope that a lot of delegates will attend the conference and we look forward to welcoming you to Tórshavn in January 2020.

The WHO Global Action Plan on Physical Activity 2018-2030