Sports Injuries of a Portuguese Professional Football Team during Three Consecutive Seasons

Francisco Martins; Cíntia França; Adilson Marques; Beatriz Iglésias; Hugo Sarmento; Ricardo Henriques; Andreas Ihle; Helder Lopes; Rui T Ornelas; Élvio Rúbio Gouveia

doi:10.3390/ijerph191912582

Sports Injuries of a Portuguese Professional Football Team during Three Consecutive Seasons

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Oct 2;19(19):12582. doi: 10.3390/ijerph191912582.

Authors

Francisco Martins^{1

2}, Cíntia França^{1

2}, Adilson Marques^{3

4}, Beatriz Iglésias⁵, Hugo Sarmento⁶, Ricardo Henriques⁷, Andreas Ihle^{8

9

10}, Helder Lopes¹, Rui T Ornelas¹, Élvio Rúbio Gouveia^{1

2

9}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physical Education and Sport, University of Madeira, 9020-105 Funchal, Portugal.
² Laboratory of Robotics and Engineering Systems, Interactive Technologies Institute, 9020-105 Funchal, Portugal.
³ CIPER, Faculty of Human Kinetics, University of Lisbon, 1499-002 Lisbon, Portugal.
⁴ ISAMB, Faculty of Medicine, University of Lisbon, 1649-020 Lisbon, Portugal.
⁵ Faculty of Human Kinetics, University of Lisbon, 1499-002 Lisbon, Portugal.
⁶ Research Unit for Sport and Physical Activity (CIDAF), Faculty of Sports Sciences and Physical Education, University of Coimbra, 2004-504 Coimbra, Portugal.
⁷ Marítimo da Madeira-Futebol, SAD, 9020-208 Funchal, Portugal.
⁸ Department of Psychology, University of Geneva, 1205 Geneva, Switzerland.
⁹ Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Gerontology and Vulnerability, University of Geneva, 1205 Geneva, Switzerland.
¹⁰ Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research LIVES-Overcoming Vulnerability: Life Course Perspectives, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.

Abstract

Professional football players are exposed to high injury risk due to the physical demands of this sport. The purpose of this study was to characterize the injuries of a professional football team in the First Portuguese League over three consecutive sports seasons. Seventy-one male professional football players in the First Portuguese Football League were followed throughout the sports seasons of 2019/2020, 2020/2021, and 2021/2022. In total, 84 injuries were recorded. Each player missed an average of 16.6 days per injury. Lower limbs were massively affected by injuries across all three seasons, mainly with muscular injuries in the quadriceps and hamstrings and sprains in the tibiotarsal structure. Overall, the injury incidence was considerably higher in matches than in training. The two times of the season that proved most conducive to injuries were the months of July and January. Our results emphasize the importance of monitoring sports performance, including injury occurrence, and assisting in identifying risk factors in professional football. Designing individualized training programs and optimizing prevention and recovery protocols are crucial for maximizing this global process.

Keywords: epidemiology; football injuries; injury prevention; risk factors; sports monitoring.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Athletic Injuries* / epidemiology
Football* / injuries
Humans
Incidence
Male
Portugal / epidemiology
Seasons
Soccer* / injuries

Grants and funding

C.F. and E.G. acknowledge support from LARSyS—Portuguese national funding agency for science, research, and technology (FCT) pluriannual funding 2020–2023 (Reference: UIDB/50009/2020). This study was framed in the Marítimo Training Lab Project. The project received funding under application no. M1420-01-0247-FEDER-000033 in the System of Incentives for the Production of Scientific and Technological Knowledge in the Autonomous Region of Madeira—PROCiência 2020.