With Euro 2016 just days away, football fans will be relieved to discover that the excitement of watching their country play does not appear to increase the risk of suffering a stroke.

Previous research has suggested that the stress and heightened emotions associated with watching crucial matches may trigger heart attacks and strokes in some fans. Portuguese researchers decided to look into this further.

They assessed data from 2012 to 2015 to see how high the risk of suffering a stroke actually is. The data related to hospital statistics based around crucial matches of the three best Portuguese clubs.

The study revealed that there were 72 strokes on and after match days compared to 52 strokes during periods when there were no matches on.

While the number of strokes on match days was slightly higher, the finding was not statistically significant, the researchers said.

"The absolute number of strokes during football matches may have been higher but it was not an above-average outlier. Our data therefore furnishes no significant indications of a correlation between enthusiasm for football and increased risk of stroke," commented the study's author, Dr Cláudia Borbinha, of the Hospital Egas Moniz in Lisbon.

Details of these findings were presented at the Second Congress of the European Academy of Neurology in Copenhagen.

The Euro 2016 tournament begins on June 10, with Ireland's first match on June 13.