Profifußball im europäischen Vergleich – Auswirkungen von Verletzungen

Translated title of the contribution: Professional football in a European comparison – Impact of injuries

Helge Riepenhof*, Annika Lindenmeyer, Hendrik Bloch, Stephen McAleer, Riccardo Delvescovo, Valerio Flammini, Stefan Bark, Justus Gille, Ralf Oheim, Benjamin Kienast

*Corresponding author for this work

Abstract

The top four football leagues in Europe are consistently working with the best football players in the world. These are: The Premier League in England (E), the La Liga in Spain (S), the Bundesliga in Germany (D) and the Seria A in Italy (I). The same rules prevail in these leagues; also, there is identical access to sports equipment and a similar level of performance can be assumed. However, the frequency of injuries and overload damage differ markedly both nationally and in a European comparison. Unfortunately, there is no uniform reporting system among the top four European leagues. Only in Germany are reliable figures and publications made by the insurer of the professional sportsmen made available (2). Therefore, each epidemiological comparison is based on the voluntary data of the clubs or players. The publication of a player's injury may have an effect on the tactical attitude of an opposing team or may significantly affect a player's market value. Therefore, it can be assumed that not all of the information regarding an injury or re-injury is completely forthcoming and truthful. The present investigation therefore does not refer to the diagnoses indicated by the associations but only to the time-loss due to injury observed by the working group. On the basis of prospectively collected data from the first half of the football season 2016/2017, comparison was made between the time loss due to injury and results of the teams involved during those periods. The relationship of both these variables and their connections to ultimate sporting successes, market value development of the players and squad sizes were analyzed. Within our results, it is clear that there is a close correlation between the number of compulsory games and the frequency of losses possibly attributable due to the injuries accrued. However, it is also apparent that a high number of compulsory games does not necessarily lead to a high unavailability rate due to injury. Especially the teams of the Premier League in England show fewer injuries despite a high number of regular fixtures. In contrast, teams in the German Bundesliga suffer the highest unavailability rates due to injury despite having the lowest number of regular fixtures.

Translated title of the contributionProfessional football in a European comparison – Impact of injuries
Original languageGerman
JournalSports Orthopaedics and Traumatology
Volume34
Issue number2
Pages (from-to)132-140
Number of pages9
ISSN0949-328X
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 05.2018

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