The ex-Manchester United midfielder is part of a five-a-side team of former hard men to launch the latest phase of the long-running Sky Bet/British Heart Foundation project13:14, 07 Sep 2026If you will forgive the pun, the campaign to equip football fans with lifesaving CPR and defibrillation skills is one that is close to Paul Ince’s heart. Just under eight years ago, Ince was working with Glenn Hoddle in a TV studio when his friend and old England boss suffered a heart attack.‌Ince held Hoddle in his arms after an employee at BT Sport - a quick-thinking sound engineer - had used continuous CPR and a defibrillator to revive him. Ince recalls: “It was Glenn’s birthday and it turned into probably the worst experience I’ve had in my life. I had his head in my hands trying to keep him awake, talking about the World Cup in '98 and our time together at Wolves.‌“But the fact that every time I speak to him now, he seems to be on the golf course, shows you just how unbelievably important this campaign is. He would not be here if we were not lucky enough to have someone there who knew how to use a defibrillator and perform CPR.”‌Ince has joined forces with Neil Ruddock, Julian Dicks, Iain Dowie and Roy Keane to form a “toughest-ever” five-a-side team that will urge supporters not to be scared of learning and administering life-saving CPR skills. The Every Minute Matters campaign - funded by Sky Bet and run in conjunction with the British Heart Foundation (BHF) - has been running for three years and Ince and his fellow hard men are launching the next phase after research showed that over two-thirds of football fans believe fear could stop them using a defibrillator.Ince says: “When a heart stops, you don’t need to be the toughest person in the room to be a hero, you just need to feel empowered to act. A defibrillator is there to help you, not test you."It guides you every step of the way and there’s nothing to be afraid of. It’s impossible to hurt someone.‌“It takes just 15 minutes to learn how to use a defibrillator with the BHF’s free RevivR tool. Giving yourself that confidence could help you to help save a life.”Ruddock also had a deeply personal reason to get involved in the Every Minute Matters campaign, explaining: “I was best friends with Justin Edinburgh. For his age (49), he was the fittest man you would ever see.‌"He collapsed in a gym that did not have a defibrillator and we lost him. It was so tragic."That is why this means a lot to me. And that’s why I’m calling on fans to face their fears and learn how to use a defibrillator.Article continues below"The Sky Bet Every Minute Matters campaign has already had a monumental impact to bring together fans to learn CPR – and you just need to spend 15 minutes using the BHF’s free RevivR tool. Doing the training means that if a cardiac arrest happens at home, at work or beside a football pitch, you are ready to step up and help save a life.”* First launched in May 2024, Sky Bet and the BHF’s Every Minute Matters campaign has already made a transformative impact, inspiring more than half a million fans to learn CPR. In September, the campaign is kicking off its next phase - a month-long push to tackle fear and get football fans ready to step up and use a defibrillator.As part of helping as many fans to access lifesaving defibrillators as possible, the ‘Every Minute Matters’ campaign is asking fans to check their eligibility and apply for a free defibrillator for their local area through the BHF’s Community Defibrillator Funding Programme.