Abstract
Objectives: To compare the effect of a newly conceived daily injury prevention programme with FIFA11+ on injury incidence and severity in academy football players.
Design: Randomised controlled trial. Setting: Football academy.
Participants: Ninety-three male academy football players were randomly assigned to either the control group (FIFA11+ or FIFA11+ Kids) or the intervention group (new injury prevention programme).
Main outcome measures: Injury incidence rate (per 1000 hours) and severity (days lost).
Results: Over 6 months, the control group recorded 45 injuries (incidence rate = 9.07/1000 hours), while the intervention group recorded 50 injuries (incidence rate = 10.10/1000 hours). The median number of days lost was 16 [95% confidence interval: 11, 27] in the control group and 15 [95% confidence interval: 7, 23] in the intervention group. No significant differences were found in injury incidence or severity between the two groups.
Conclusions: The newly conceived injury prevention programme was as effective as the FIFA11+ in reducing injury incidence and severity, thus representing an easy-to-implement injury prevention programme for football academies. Trial registration: The trial was registered with the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ACTRN12623000359639) retrospectively, as it was initially conducted for academic purposes, negating the requirement for prospective registration.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 9-17 |
| Number of pages | 9 |
| Journal | Physical Therapy in Sport |
| Volume | 74 |
| Early online date | 25 Apr 2025 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | E-pub ahead of print - 25 Apr 2025 |
Data Availability Statement
The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.Keywords
- FIFA 11+
- Injury prevention
- Risk reduction
- Youth football
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Orthopedics and Sports Medicine
- Physical Therapy, Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation