Why all 36 EFL Championship, League One & League Two games kick-off times will be different this weekend | OneFootball

Every match in the EFL this weekend will be kicking off a minute later than normal to raise awareness of a potentially life-saving few minutes.

All 36 matches being played in the EFL will kick off at a different time to normal this weekend to raise awareness of an action which could save somebody's life.

The English Football League have confirmed that all 36 matches which are due to be played this weekend will kick off a minute later than normal.

It's a packed weekend across the Championship, League One and League Two, with fixtures starting on Friday evening, when Charlton Athletic take on Queens Park Rangers, all the way through to Monday evening, when Sheffield United play Middlesbrough live on the television.

But it's now been confirmed that these matches will kick off one minute later than their scheduled times, due to an awareness campaign being jointly run by the EFL and the British Heart Foundation.

EFL matches this weekend will kick off a minute late to raise awareness of importance of time when dealing with cardiac arrests

The BBC has reported on Tuesday morning that all 36 matches due to be played in the Championship, League One and League Two will kick-off a minute later than their previously advertised time in order to raise awareness for the Every Minute Matters campaign.

The Every Minute Matters campaign is intended to spread the importance of dealing promptly with incidents in which people suffer cardiac arrests through CPR. The BBC report that, "Throughout February, the Every Minute Matters campaign will call on fans to learn CPR using the BHF's online RevivR, external tool."

EFL chief executive Trevor Birch said of the initiative that, "The one-minute kick-off adjustment is a simple, powerful reminder that swift CPR can be the difference between life and death."

The case of Tom Lockyer demonstrates that time is of the essence, in the case of a cardiac arrest

The highest-profile case of a footballer suffering a cardiac arrest in the EFL concerned former Luton Town defender Tom Lockyer, who collapsed on the Wembley pitch 11 minutes into their 2023 Championship play-off final against Coventry City after suffering atrial fibulation. Luton went on to win the match on penalty kicks, but their then-manager Rob Edwards was visibly shaken by the incident and broke down when interviewed by Sky Sports afterwards.

Lockyer was given the all-clear the resume his career with Luton at the start of the 2023-24 season, but in December 2023 he collapsed on the pitch during a Premier League match against Bournemouth with a cardiac arrest and was resuscitated in two minutes. This time, the player underwent a longer period of convalescence.

To the enormous credit of Luton Town, they renewed his playing contract the following summer, and even though that contract expired in June 2025 he continued his rehabilitation at Kenilworth Road until he was cleared to play professionally again last October, and he returned to play for Bristol Rovers, where he'd started his professional career.

The speed of the paramedics at The Vitality Stadium demonstrated that time is of the essence in the case of a cardiac arrest. For every minute that defibrillation is delayed, the chances of surviving are reduced by around 10%, with those chances falling particularly quickly in the first five minutes, while 95% of those who experience cardiac arrests die because they do not receive life-saving defibrillation within four to six minutes, before brain and permanent death begin to occur. These minutes have consequently become known as the "Golden Minutes."

And while having a thorough knowledge of CPR is ideal, there remain other things that spectators can do under such circumstances to improve a victim's survival chances. There are six steps that can dramatically improve someone's survival chances, and these are known as the "Chain of Survival". Immediate identification of a potential cardiac arrest is crucial to a victim's recovery chances.

And players aren't the only people who could be affected by this. There have been several cases of matches being stopped because of medical emergencies in the crowd in recent years. Not all have been successful. Popular Charlton fan Norman Barker tragically died after falling ill during a match against Portsmouth in December.

But by raising awareness of the importance of acting extremely quickly, both the BHF and the EFL are taking action to ensure that those who suffer medical emergencies, whether players or fans, are given the best possible chance of survival. It's an initiative that should earn the applause of all EFL fans, regardless of their club colours.