£1.2m football defibrillator fund launched

A £1.2 MILLION defibrillator fund has been launched, a year on from Fabrice Muamba’s near-fatal cardiac arrest during an FA Cup match, to help save lives in football clubs and their ­communities.

The Football Association (FA) and the British Heart Foundation (BHF) have teamed up so that more than 900 ­defibrillators will be at hand for ­non-league and grassroots football, from the Football ­Conference premier division to the ­County League and clubs in the ­Women’s Super League.

Muamba, 24, a former England under-21 star, collapsed on the pitch during Bolton’s FA Cup quarter-final against Tottenham in March 2012.