A league table ranking child health by football team area has further shown the dramatic health divide between the North and the South.

Ahead of the new football season kicking off later this month, researchers at Health Equity North (HEN) analysed data1 to create a visual representation of how children from different areas of the country fare across a range of childhood health indicators.

The rankings, based on public health information from the areas local to the clubs, look at: poverty; obesity; infant mortality rate; life expectancy at birth; educational attainment; and the gap in life expectancy.

Presented in the form of a football league table featuring the 20 men’s Premier League teams2 due to battle it out in the new season, the results – ranked from best to worst3 – demonstrate the extent of disparities in health across the country.

The top half of the table, showing the best performing regions, is dominated by southern clubs and the ‘relegated clubs’ are from the Midlands and the North West.

Manchester United would win the Child Health and Wellbeing League, followed by Bournemouth, Fulham and Tottenham in the top four European places, with Chelsea in fifth, Brighton in sixth and Brentford in seventh place.

The bottom three in the table, who would all be relegated, are Nottingham Forest, Everton and Liverpool.

Recommendations from HEN academics include:

· increasing child benefit by up to £20/week; increasing the child element of universal credit; suspending the two-child limit

· expanding provision of free-school meals

· increased investment in welfare, health and social care systems that support children’s health, particularly in deprived areas, reversing the cuts that have hit disadvantaged areas in the North the hardest.

· a joined-up strategy to tackle health inequalities, putting children’s health and wellbeing at the heart of policy.

View the Child Health and Wellbeing League results and a blog on the analysis from the HEN Academic Directors here: https://www.healthequitynorth.co.uk/blog-which-football-team-wins-the-child-health-and-wellbeing-league/