We can create a better world through sport
Soccer is one of the world’s most powerful communication tools. We reshape the landscape of sports through soccer – always guided by our promise.
Eir’s promise is to embrace all safety, competitive, and playful aspects of soccer. We are committed to raising awareness of gender equality and access to all in soccer, which has lead us to:
Use soccer and the ball as a means of creating a better world where poverty or other unsustainable conditions exist.
Stand up against the severe injuries as well as gender stereotype in soccer – and support women to live a full life with soccer.
Our brand ‘EIR’ is inspired by Nordic mythology: Eir is a goddess and valkyrie associated with medical skill and a healing goddess.
Faster play. Longer stay.
Today young girls and women are playing soccer with a men’s size soccer ball. Most other sports like basketball, golf, tennis, and hurdle race have adjusted equipment to give players the best chance to succeed. In soccer, players aged 14-19 suffer one serious injury per year. With a 90% chance of a suffering second injury, many of them retire from the game before they ever reach their prime. The Eir balls have been developed to fit women’s size and weight, to reduce injuries and enable a faster game.
Today, we know that there are 6x as many injuries in women’s soccer as in men’s and that women suffer more head injuries in soccer than men do in ice hockey.
Eir
The Eir ball is the product of three years of research by scientists in Denmark and Germany supported by the German and Danish football/soccer associations. The Danish Football Association has granted permission to play with the ball for all age groups except for the pro adult league.
This is still a BIG secret … 🙂
Model and soccer player, Josephine Skriver, in New York supporting Asylum United.
Events for a good cause
By offering both safe, competitive, and playful ways of playing soccer we increase the ability, confidence, and desire to be active.
Inclusion is not just a philosophy. It’s a commitment to new traditions.
Project Play | The Aspen Institute
Our latest event series is the Global Goals World cup.
Go to Global Goals World Cup
Music festival events
To us, creating events at music festivals is brilliantly fun.
Eir nominated Best Grassroots Project.
by UEFA
To see pictures from Roskilde Festivals go to our Facebook page (you will find previous events at our previous Facebook page) or our Flickr page. To see videos from previous years, go to our YouTube channel.
Urban Events
Sports event developed and facilitated for the City of Copenhagen and the International Olympic Committee.
O ver the years we have created +50 city tournaments together with fashion stores, media companies, gowernmental bodies and charity organizations.
There is no doubt that it’s beneficial for the City of Copenhagen to support Eir Org. It’s brilliant city branding. As a city, we want to be known for hosting such events. Eir Org is fun, creates friendships and networks and inspires us to be active and creative. I have worked with the people behind this sensational event in regards to the Climate Summit for Mayors, that I hosted last December and they have a strong flair in making people feel that they are connected and doing something that matters.
Former Lord Mayor of Copenhagen Ritt Bjerregaard
Camps
7-9 years
10-14 years.
The camp concepts have been developed in cooperation with former professional players such as Becca Todd – national beach soccer team player; Futbolistas Coaching Director, and sports scientist who has volunteered making kids smile all over the world – and Bettina Falk – former Danish national team player with 86 caps; FIFA end UEFA licensed soccer coach.
Soccer Fitness
We conduct pop-up, indoor and outdoor soccer fitness classes running 2-12 weeks. Talk to us about great activities at your school, college or company.
Soccer fitness may also be planned in addition to the soccer camps for the young girls as a 2 hour training for parents while their girls are at camp.
Physical literacy and health
Key facts
The average female soccer player aged 14-19 suffers one injury per year.
There are up to 6x as many injuries in women’s soccer as in men’s.
Women suffer more head injuries in soccer than men do in ice hockey with the number of head injuries second only to men’s football/soccer.
With a 90% chance of a suffering second injury, many players retire from the game before they ever reach their prime.
Women’s head acceleration when heading a standard size 5 ball is above the level where concussions can occur.
If a specific player is able to kick a standard size 5 ball 33 meters, then the same player can kick the Eir ball 37.4 meters (13% longer).
A 20-meter pass (not touching the ground) will take 0.91 seconds with a standard size 5 ball and 0.85 seconds (6% less) with an Eir ball.
Ball speed is higher when kicking the Eir ball vis-à-vis a standard size 5 ball (23.9 m/s vs. 22.5 m/s) – given no difference in the foot speed.
50% of the players find the Eir ball better than the standard size 5 ball and 86% of all respondents respond positively to the Eir ball.
In long passes the Eir ball moves particularly better.
Nearly half of all respondents stress that when playing with the Eir ball, they have a better feeling than with the standard size 5 ball.
66% of the players think it is more fun to play with the Eir ball.
Research: Injury-incidence, heart rates and concussions
Research: Biomechanics of kicking – male vs. female kicking
Among female soccer players who had sustained acl injuries, more than half developed x-ray signs of osteoarthritis in the following 12 years.
Marci A. Goolsby, MD, Attending Physician, Dept. of Medicine (Sports Medicine), Hospital for Special Surgery
Injury-incidence in adolescent female soccer is 15.3 per 1.000 hours of soccer-exposure. This is extremely high.
The level of wear & tear injuries is high. Strain of legs are higher with a standard ball 5 than with the Eir ball (5.2 vs. 3.7).
Too long time is spent at high heart rates. Players unaccustomed to the Eir ball spent more relative time over 95% of HRmax and less relative time in 80-90% of HRmax, when playing with a standard ball 5.
Head acceleration will be significantly lower – even at an increased ball speed – when using the Eir ball with lower mass vis-a-vis the standard ball 5.
Female kickers tend to move both the thigh and the shank towards the ball, whereas the male kickers only rotate their shank. Changing the movement with the Eir ball can remove pressure on the female knee close to zero.
Testing of the ball at Oure Sports and Performance school:
With the new women’s football/soccer ball, elite women kick the ball with 4% higher ball velocity.
Elite male football/soccer players achieve maximal ball speeds of approximately 30 m/s when kicking under laboratory conditions. Female players, however, only achieve speeds of up to 22 m/s.
When the eir ball is hit well, you can pass it further and more precise – both in the air and on the ground. The dribbling is faster and safer, especially when changing direction.
Tina Theune, former national team coach for Germany, six times European UEFA cup winner and one time FIFA world cup winner
If a player is able to kick a standard size 5 ball 33 meters, then the same player can kick the Eir ball 37.4 meters (13% longer).
A 20-meter pass (not touching the ground) will take 0.91 seconds with a standard size 5 ball and 0.85 seconds (6% less) with an Eir ball.
Research: Ability, confidence and desire
86% of all respondents respond positively to the Eir ball.
Nearly half of all respondents stress that when playing with the Eir ball they have a better feeling.
66% think it is more fun to play with the Eir ball.
60% want to continue to play with the Eir ball
53% say that playing with the Eir ball is a special experience.
Further research documentation may be revealed upon request. Contact us.