November is men’s health month. The best-known campaign is Movember, an Australian foundation that funds research and prevention on three subjects every year: mental health and suicide prevention, prostate cancer and testicular cancer. In November 2025, almost 266,000 participants raised 136.8 million Australian dollars, 6.5 million of them in mainland Europe (the foundation’s 2026 annual report).
A sports club is concerned three times over. Testicular cancer mostly affects young men, the age of the players. Prostate cancer affects men over 45, the age of the committee, the coaches and the parents. And mental health concerns everyone, in a place where men see each other every week.
This article does what we did in October for women’s health: it separates what the studies allow us to say from what they do not, it gives the official position of each country we serve, and it proposes club gestures that fit in a month, without turning November into a sales argument.
A word on what we will not say. We will not write that sport protects against prostate or testicular cancer: the studies do not show it. We will not write « get tested »: no health authority in France, Switzerland, Belgium or Germany recommends it for every man. And we will not make November a promotion. Every figure below says where it comes from.
What sport does, and does not do, for men’s health
For prostate cancer, physical activity is not an established factor. The World Cancer Research Fund, which reviews the whole literature, grades the link between physical activity and prostate cancer « limited, no conclusion » (2014 report, revised 2018). The factors it retains as probable lie elsewhere: body fatness for advanced disease, and adult height. That is a clear difference from breast cancer, where the same body judges it « probable » that regular activity protects after the menopause.
For testicular cancer, no sport is to blame. A US study found no link between cycling, vigorous activity or sedentary time and this cancer (Littman, 2009). What matters is knowing what is normal for you and seeing a doctor when something changes.
For mental health, team sport counts, without anyone being able to say it cures. A 2013 review concludes that club or team sport is associated with better mental health than activity done alone, while stating that the studies cannot establish the cause (Eime, 2013). A trial run in 44 clubs with 704 teenage boys, using Movember’s « Ahead of the Game » programme, measured more resilience and a stronger intention to seek help (cluster randomised trial, 2026). The club is not a place of care. It is a place where people talk.
After cancer, physical activity helps. For fatigue, strength, function and quality of life the evidence is sufficient to recommend avoiding inactivity (Campbell, 2019). In men on hormone therapy for prostate cancer, supervised exercise probably improves quality of life and walking (meta-analysis, 2021). No study has shown an effect on survival: the large trial meant to measure it was stopped early, without a result.
The prostate: each country’s position, as it stands
None of the four countries where most of our clubs are has an organised prostate screening programme. In France, no health authority recommends systematic PSA testing (Institut national du cancer, 6 November 2025; Assurance maladie; HAS, 2012). In Switzerland there is no programme and pilot projects are running (Swiss Cancer League, 2025). In Belgium there is no programme and the KCE is reviewing the question. In Germany, the yearly check offered from 45 does not include the PSA test (G-BA, October 2025). The United Kingdom has no population screening either; England has just decided a targeted programme for men aged 45 to 61 who carry a risk variant of the BRCA2 gene, expected to start in 2027.
So the message to a member is not « get tested ». It is: screening has benefits and limits; if you are wondering, especially if a close relative has had this cancer, talk to your doctor and decide once informed. Prostate cancer remains the most common cancer in men: 59,885 new cases in France in 2018 (INCa), about 79,600 in Germany in 2023 (RKI), 12,435 in Belgium in 2023 (Belgian Cancer Registry), 57,898 in the UK (Cancer Research UK).
The testicle: the young players’ cancer, and a very treatable one
In France, testicular cancer is the most common cancer in men aged 15 to 35 (INCa); in Switzerland, in men under 40 (Swiss Cancer League); in Germany, in men aged 25 to 45 (RKI). That is exactly the age of the senior and junior squads. It is very treatable: in Germany, where the registry publishes the figure, 97 % of men are alive five years after diagnosis.
No authority in our countries recommends routine examination, by a doctor or by oneself (the US task force even advises against it, grade D). The NHS advice is simpler and more useful: know what is normal for you, and see a doctor if something changes, a lump, a swelling, a feeling of heaviness, a pain that does not go away.
One last point, often forgotten: in sports where the rules provide for it, the cup is part of the kit. Of 731 young US athletes surveyed, 18 % had already had a testicular injury and 13 % wore a cup (Bieniek, 2014).
Talking: the club as the place where people check on each other
In 2022, 6,925 men and 2,275 women died by suicide in France, three times more men than women (Observatoire national du suicide, February 2025); in Germany, 7,846 of the 11,334 deaths in 2025 were men (Destatis). We will not turn these figures into a slogan. Prevention guidelines are clear: no shock figure, no single cause, and instead say where to find help and show that asking for help works.
What a club can do fits in one sentence: after training, check on each other. If someone is not well, listen without judging and point them to the listening line of your country: 3114 in France, 143 in Switzerland, 0800 32 123 or 1813 in Belgium, 0800 111 0 111 in Germany, 116 123 in the United Kingdom, 024 in Spain. All of them are free, around the clock. One detail matters: men do not « refuse » to see a doctor. The crude 32 % gap between men and women falls to 5 to 8 % for the same condition (Wang, 2013). An invitation works better than a reproach.
What a club can do in November
- Inform all members, without targeting. One message, to everyone: it also reaches partners, parents and friends, who are often the ones who push a man to see a doctor. Five points are enough: talking, knowing what is normal for you, the country’s position on prostate screening, the listening line, and activity after cancer.
- Leave a moment to talk at the end of one session this month. Nothing to organise.
- Remind young players what is normal for them and when to see a doctor, and the cup where the rules provide for it.
- Raise money, if the club wants to, directly with Movember. The foundation runs a sports challenge for clubs and the « Move », 60 kilometres walked or run in the month. Registration is on its site and the donations go to it directly. We take nothing and we are not a Movember partner.
- Stay fair. Do not make the month an argument to sell memberships; if the club raises money, state the amount and the charity that receives it; record nothing about a member’s health; ask both parents before publishing a minor’s photo; and keep alcohol out of it, as the law requires of French clubs and of Swiss sports events.
What Paak does in November
In the app, on the Training screen, a November card carries these five gestures, on every plan including the free one. It opens a message ready to send to all members, with no advertising, with your country’s position on prostate screening, your country’s listening line and official sources, to read over and adapt before sending. It links to Movember’s own site for clubs that want to raise money, and to Partners to record the action with the number of people reached. Nothing is stored about a member’s health: there is no box, no tag, no filter.
As in October, the card disappears on 1 December. What stays is the habit of checking on each other.
Main sources: Movember, 2026 annual report and « Keeping it legal » pages; WCRF/AICR, prostate report 2014 revised 2018; Littman et al., 2009; Eime et al., 2013; « Ahead of the Game » trial, 2026; Campbell et al., 2019; exercise and hormone therapy meta-analysis, 2021; INCa, prostate (6 November 2025) and testicular cancer pages, Panorama des cancers 2024; Assurance maladie; HAS 2012; Swiss Cancer League, 2025; KCE, study 2024-10; G-BA, press release of 16 October 2025; UK National Screening Committee, 2026; Zentrum für Krebsregisterdaten (RKI); Belgian Cancer Registry; Cancer Research UK; USPSTF, 2011; NHS; Bieniek et al., 2014; DREES, Observatoire national du suicide, February 2025; Destatis, October 2026; Wang et al., 2013; the listening lines’ own pages. All read in October 2026.