Impact of COVID-19 on football players’ injuries

Background and Objective: Even in football and in sports, as in every aspect of social life, the balance between preserving health and the economy is the central theme. The public health impact of COVID-19 has resulted in the closure of stadiums for an extended period. The study aims to evaluate the effect of post COVID-19 on Serie A football players. Methods: Considering two Serie A seasons, namely from 2019-20 to 2020-21, all the players who had played at least one match in both seasons were selected. Players were further divided according to the number of injuries over the two seasons. The information about injuries was obtained from the German website Transfermarkt. We verified whether there was a significant difference in injuries, through Mann–Whitney U Test, by comparing players who had COVID-19, in any of the 19-20 or 20-21 seasons, with those who did not get sick Results: In the 264 players analysed were not counted as injuries non-purely orthopaedic surgery, intestinal problems, infections and COVID-19. During season 19-20, only 9 players had COVID-19, while in season 20-21, 93 out of 264. Each player who has had COVID-19 lost an average of 18.6 days. For both periods, the players who had COVID-19 had significantly fewer injuries than those who had not (p<0.05). Conclusion: The analysis focused on post Covid-19 effects on Serie A players, particularly their injury numbers. Physical injuries decreased in players who had encountered the virus. This is probably because every player who had COVID-19 has been away from the football field. This might suggest that professional athletes should have no health problems if they have defeated COVID-19. However, despite the decrease in pandemic restrictions, there are still many doubts about post COVID-19, we cannot lower our guard.