den Hollander Steve, Kerkhoffs Gino, Gouttebarge Vincent
Football Players Worldwide (FIFPRO), 2132LR Hoofddorp, The Netherlands.
Division of Physiological Sciences, Department of Human Biology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa.
Sports (Basel). 2024 Aug 1;12(8):212. doi: 10.3390/sports12080212.
There are concerns over the impact of the congested international match calendar on professional footballers' physical and mental well-being, and injury susceptibility. This study aimed to determine whether there were differences in match workload and international travel between injured and non-injured male football players over two elite competition seasons. An observational, retrospective, case-control study was conducted using data from the 2021/2022 and 2022/2023 seasons of five top-tier European men's football leagues. Student -tests were used to compare cumulative match workload and international travel data over a 28-day period preceding 1270 injuries and 2540 controls. There were significant differences in match workload and international travel variables between the injured groups (all injuries and hamstring injuries) and the control group. Match workload variables were higher ( < 0.01), recovery variables lower ( < 0.01), and international travel variables higher ( < 0.01). An overload of match workload and international travel contribute to increased injury susceptibility in professional men's football. This emphasizes the need to address international match calendar concerns, including the number of games per season, the frequency of back-to-back games, and international travel requirements. Additionally, the findings highlight the importance of monitoring player match workloads, and implementing squad rotations and tailored training programs to mitigate injury risks.
人们担心密集的国际比赛日程对职业足球运动员身心健康及受伤易感性的影响。本研究旨在确定在两个顶级赛事赛季中，受伤和未受伤的男性足球运动员在比赛工作量和国际旅行方面是否存在差异。利用五个欧洲顶级男子足球联赛2021/2022赛季和2022/2023赛季的数据进行了一项观察性、回顾性病例对照研究。采用学生t检验比较了1270例受伤病例和2540例对照病例在受伤前28天内的累积比赛工作量和国际旅行数据。受伤组（所有伤病和腘绳肌伤病）与对照组在比赛工作量和国际旅行变量方面存在显著差异。比赛工作量变量更高（P<0.01），恢复变量更低（P<0.01），国际旅行变量更高（P<0.01）。比赛工作量和国际旅行的负荷过重会导致职业男子足球运动员受伤易感性增加。这强调了解决国际比赛日程相关问题的必要性，包括每个赛季的比赛数量、连续比赛的频率以及国际旅行要求。此外，研究结果凸显了监测球员比赛工作量以及实施阵容轮换和量身定制的训练计划以降低受伤风险的重要性。
