Academic and healthcare efforts from Cessation to complete resumption of professional football tournaments during COVID-19 pandemic: A narrative review

Naushad Ahmad Khan; Ayman El-Menyar; Mohammad Asim; Sameer Abdurahiman; AbdulWahab Abubaker Al Musleh; Hassan Al-Thani

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e22519

Academic and healthcare efforts from Cessation to complete resumption of professional football tournaments during COVID-19 pandemic: A narrative review

Heliyon. 2023 Nov 18;9(12):e22519. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e22519. eCollection 2023 Dec.

Authors

Naushad Ahmad Khan¹, Ayman El-Menyar^{1

2}, Mohammad Asim¹, Sameer Abdurahiman³, AbdulWahab Abubaker Al Musleh³, Hassan Al-Thani⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Surgery, Trauma &Vascular Surgery, Clinical Research, Hamad General Hospital, Doha, Qatar.
² Department of Clinical Medicine, Weill Cornell Medical College, Doha, Qatar.
³ Clinical Information Systems (CIS), Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar.
⁴ Department of Surgery, Trauma and Vascular Surgery, Hamad General Hospital, Doha, Qatar.

Abstract

The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus led to over 626 million infections and 6.5 million deaths worldwide and forced to cancel or postpone several sporting events. Effective control techniques are therefore urgently required to avoid COVID-19 spread at these local and global events. This narrative review addressed the healthcare and research efforts on the intersections between COVID-19 and major professional sports leagues worldwide, with special reference to the FIFA World Cup football 2022. This explained how the broader transformation of COVID-19 from being a potential risk to an urgent pandemic public health emergency, caused the world of Football to halt between February and March 2020. This review could add to the growing literature on the importance of scientific research in understanding the relationship between mass sports events and COVID-19 trajectory, concerning studies conducted globally and particularly for the recommencement of major professional football competitions. The information outlined in the article may help sports organizations understand the risks associated with sports and their settings and improve their preparedness for future events under unprecedented circumstances. There were tremendous global healthcare and research efforts to deal with this unprecedented pandemic. The successful FIFA World Cup football tournament was an indicator of the success of these efforts.

Keywords: Coronavirus disease 2019; FIFA world Cup 2022; Football; Healthcare; Pandemic; Risk-mitigation.

Publication types

Review