gms | German Medical Science

Objectives: Football (soccer) is one of the most popular team sports over the world with millions of players, which are registered in football clubs or play without any football club registration. While scientific injury reports in professional football are common, scientific studies about injury characteristics in amateur football are rare. An analysis about differences between injury characteristics of registered amateur football players in clubs versus hobby football players outside football clubs are completely missing. The purpose of this study was the injury evaluation of an international amateur football tournament regarding differences between amateur football levels.

Methods: A prospective cohort study analyzed an international amateur football tournament of Medical Doctors (WMFF). Only certificated medical doctors took part in this tournament. This annual tournament of the year 2011 was analyzed regarding training performance before the tournament and injury incidence during the tournament.

Match rules of this amateur football tournament are closely aligned to the international football rules of the World Football Association (FIFA). 6 matches and no training session were conducted during the 6 days tournament. All participating football players received a standardized questionnaire about football injury documentation (Fuller et al., 2006) at the beginning. Each event was registered by the players themselves. The questionnaire was collected and evaluated afterwards.

Results and Conclusion: Hobby football players without regular frequent training sessions before the tournament presented no significant different injury incidence (p=0.8) compared to amateur football players in registered football clubs with frequent team trainings. Thus, hobby football players revealed more non-contact injuries and time loss injuries overall. Also these untrained hobby football players had almost 50% more complaints and overuse injuries in 1000 hours match time exposure compared to the trained amateur football players (p<0.001). The most affected body region by injuries in both groups was the lower extremities in almost 75%. The most injured subpopulations of football playing medical doctors during the tournament were the general surgeons and by overuse complaints the anesthesiologists. The subpopulation with the lowest incidence of complaints and injuries in the tournament were the trauma and orthopedic surgeons.

Conclusion: This study presented for the first time detailed information about injury incidence and pattern of an amateur football tournament. Less trained hobby players presented significantly more overuse injuries during the tournament as direct result of insufficient preparation before the tournament compared to amateur football players in football clubs. Specific prevention of overuse and traumatic injuries in hobby football players should start with a regular training and warm up program or with a specific preparation program before football tournaments.