Wembley Stands To Honour Four Football Fans In CPR Awareness Campaign During EFL Play-Off Finals

Wembley Stadium will temporarily rename four of its stands in honour of football supporters whose stories of courage and survival are helping raise awareness of CPR during the Sky Bet EFL Play-Off Finals.

The initiative forms part of the 40th anniversary celebrations of the Play-Offs and aims to encourage more supporters to learn the lifesaving skill of CPR through the Every Minute Matters campaign, led by Sky Bet and the British Heart Foundation (BHF) in partnership with the EFL.

Around 200,000 supporters attending the Play-Off Finals between 23 and 25 May, along with millions watching on Sky Sports, will see the temporary stand names displayed across the national stadium.

Each year in the UK, more than 40,000 people suffer an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, with survival rates remaining below one in ten. The campaign highlights the importance of immediate CPR and quick action in emergency situations.

The four Wembley stands will be named after supporters connected to remarkable stories involving cardiac arrests and lifesaving intervention:

• The Callum Lawson Stand – named after a Sunderland supporter who survived a cardiac arrest during last season’s Championship Play-Off Final.
• The Pippa Sharman Stand – recognising the Reading fan who helped save the life of an opposition supporter who collapsed at the wheel of a car following a match.
• The Andy Wall Stand – honouring a Norwich City supporter who survived a cardiac arrest shortly before half-time during a Canaries fixture.
• The Ed McCann Stand – named after a Bradford City fan who survived thanks to CPR being performed by a Burnley supporter.

The Every Minute Matters campaign previously moved kick-off times at last year’s Play-Off Finals to one minute past the hour to reinforce the importance of acting quickly during cardiac emergencies.

Since launching, the campaign has encouraged more than 520,000 supporters to begin learning CPR using the BHF’s free RevivR training tool.

Former Luton Town captain Tom Lockyer, who suffered a cardiac arrest during the 2023 Play-Off Final and now lives with an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD), continues to support the initiative.

Lockyer said: “Wembley will always hold huge meaning for me, so to see fans being celebrated who have been through similar experiences to myself is incredibly emotional and special.

“After experiencing a cardiac arrest, I know first-hand how important immediate CPR and quick action can be. The four people having stands named after them are truly incredible.

“Whether they survived a cardiac arrest themselves or stepped forward to help save somebody else’s life, they’ve shown extraordinary courage and strength.

“Football has an unbelievable power to bring people together and over the last two years we’ve seen clubs, players and fans unite behind a cause that genuinely saves lives.

“These stories are proof that ordinary people can make an extraordinary difference when every minute matters. The fact that 520,000 people have now started learning CPR through Every Minute Matters is something everyone involved in the campaign should be proud of.”

Supporters can learn CPR in around 15 minutes through the British Heart Foundation’s free RevivR training tool on http://­revivr.­bhf.­org.­uk.