The Football Association medical research programme: an audit of injuries in academy youth football

Objectives: To undertake a prospective epidemiological study of the injuries sustained in English youth academy football over two competitive seasons. Methods: Player injuries were annotated by medical staff at 38 English football club youth academies. A specific injury audit questionnaire was used together with a weekly return form that documented each club’s current injury status. Results: A total of 3805 injuries were reported over two complete seasons (June to May) with an average injury rate of 0.40 per player per season. The mean (SD) number of days absent for each injury was 21.9 (33.63), with an average of 2.31 (3.66) games missed per injury. The total amount of time absent through injury equated to about 6% of the player’s development time. Players in the higher age groups (17–19 years) were more likely to receive an injury than those in the younger age groups (9–16 years). Injury incidence varied throughout the season, with training injuries peaking in January (p