A recent study has suggested that football participation in professional environments could be a good method to get men to lose weight.

The Scottish study published in the Lancet looked at 374 overweight football fans who were invited to take part in a 12-week programme of training sessions at their local football club. A year later, the participants had lost and successfully kept off around 11lb (5kg) each compared to the control group of overweight men put on a waiting list for the programme.

All 748 men that participated in the study were offered healthy eating advice and weight-management tips, but only half were invited to professional football clubs for the weekly training sessions.

Thirteen clubs – many of which were Scottish Premier League teams – took part including Aberdeen, Celtic, Dundee United, Dunfermline, Hamilton Acidemical, Hearts, Hibernian, Inverness Caledonian Thistle, Kilmarnock, Motherwell, Rangers, St Johnstone and St Mirren.

Co-author Prof Kate Hunt, from Glasgow University, said: “Football is a very popular sport in many European countries and the use of professional football clubs to deliver a health behaviour intervention for overweight men is highly innovative.

“Participants enjoyed being with other men like them, with a shared interest in football and similar similar health issues to address. They loved having the opportunity to spend time at the club, using parts of the stadium that they couldn’t ordinarily access.”

The paper also suggests that if professional sporting organisations provide convenient access to many overweight men, the strategy could be applicable in other sports to help combat the global obesity epidemic.

To read the full report click here.