Science & medicine in football最新文献

{"title":"Perspectives on data analytics for gaining a competitive advantage in football: computational approaches to tactics.","authors":"Sigrid Olthof, Jesse Davis","doi":"10.1080/24733938.2025.2533784","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/24733938.2025.2533784","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The role of data-driven analyses is becoming more prominent in football. These have the potential to impact decision-making processes for team performance and player recruitment. Research in this area makes use of large datasets consisting of event and tracking data from multiple teams, leagues and seasons. A well-known computational solution is the Expected Goal model for post-match analysis and operational decision-making.Despite a shared research interest in football tactics, computational research in football is somewhat disconnected from the sports science community. We believe that there is much to gain from a closer collaboration between these disparate communities. To this end, the present commentary has three goals. First, we want to synthesize the historical computational work in areas such as evaluating tactics, predicting player and team success, and modeling players' movements. This work has largely been published in technical computational venues, and hence we hope to provide an access point for those interested in learning about this area. Second, we will highlight some emerging topics, such as automating parts of match analysis and analyzing decision-making. These are topics that require an in-depth collaboration with domain experts and therefore would benefit from a tighter integration among these communities. Third, we would like to discuss some advice and initiatives that we hope will be helpful in strengthening the ties between these communities.</p>","PeriodicalId":74767,"journal":{"name":"Science & medicine in football","volume":" ","pages":"1-13"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-07-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144676732","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Professional male English footballers of the 20th century had lower death rates than the general population.","authors":"Maxime Sellers, John W Orchard, Jessica J Orchard, Phil Batty","doi":"10.1080/24733938.2025.2533791","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/24733938.2025.2533791","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Elite athlete cohorts in most sports outlive the general population. We aimed to assess the standardised mortality ratios (SMR) of male professional footballers in England from the 20th Century compared to the general population in England. We included players born between 1900-1972 who had played for the best performing 25 clubs in the English Football League in the 20th Century. We chose these years of birth meaning debut after the First World War (when football records became more reliable) and debut before the start of the Premier League (when teams became composed of a high number of non-British players). We used Wikidata as our primary source of publicly available data for players in our chosen cohort, supplemented by additional databases. Expected deaths (between 1963-2022) were calculated using English deaths by year and age from the Human Mortality Database and The Office of National Statistics. We identified 7620 eligible players from the 25 clubs as our cohort. By the end of 2022, 4049 players were still alive and 3571 had died. Expected number of deaths was 4242. The SMR for English professional footballers was 0.84 (95% confidence interval 0.81-0.88). We conclude that male professional footballers of the 20th Century had lower mortality rates than the age-matched general male population in England.</p>","PeriodicalId":74767,"journal":{"name":"Science & medicine in football","volume":" ","pages":"1-10"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-07-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144661240","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Results of a cardiac screening program in elite football players in New Zealand.","authors":"Angus J Davis, Belinda Gray, Tim Driscoll, John W Orchard, Bruce Hamilton, Robert N Doughty, Mark Fulcher, Jessica J Orchard","doi":"10.1080/24733938.2025.2533790","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/24733938.2025.2533790","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Cardiac screening of elite footballers for conditions associated with sudden cardiac arrest/death (SCA/D) is a requirement of Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA). This study aimed to report the findings, cardiac diagnoses, and outcomes from the New Zealand Football (NZF) screening program for FIFA tournaments since 2012. Footballers were screened with a personal/family history, physical examination, resting 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) and transthoracic echocardiogram. An audit (March 2024) reviewed screening records, comprising ECGs, echocardiograms, demographic data, follow-up testing, and diagnoses. A footballer was included if their screening episode included an ECG trace and an echocardiogram (with a report in English) and if there were sufficient details about the screening outcome. Rare results were reported as <5 to protect anonymity. If a footballer had multiple screenings, only the first was included. One hundred and forty-seven footballers (60% female, mean age 19.2 ± 3.7 years) were included. There were <5 diagnoses of conditions associated with SCA/D. No footballer retired for cardiac reasons and there were no incidents of SCA/D during the audit period. 4.8% of ECGs were abnormal; however, no patient was subsequently identified to have underlying structural heart disease on echocardiography. In screening echocardiograms, females had significantly lower indexed left ventricular end-systolic and diastolic volumes compared to males. The ECG and echocardiographic findings in this screening cohort were similar to those of other football populations.</p>","PeriodicalId":74767,"journal":{"name":"Science & medicine in football","volume":" ","pages":"1-7"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-07-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144661241","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Broadcast analytics - an evaluation of video-based tracking systems with constrained player visibility.","authors":"Manuel Bassek, Jonas Theiner, Ralph Ewerth, Daniel Memmert, Dominik Raabe","doi":"10.1080/24733938.2025.2533808","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/24733938.2025.2533808","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Advancements in recent years have enabled the generation of tracking data from broadcast videos. However, regardless of the quality of these systems, off-screen actions cannot be monitored since the athletes are not visible. The present study investigates the influence of player visibility in soccer broadcast videos on typical data analysis routines in soccer. To this end, we emulate broadcast player tracking data from two video sources (scouting feed, SF; broadcast television, TV) and compare the quality of physical and tactical performance metrics to the official player tracking data (GT) in two experiments. Experiment 1 analyzes the impact of player visibility on total distance and high-speed distance covered, while experiment 2 investigates its effect on tactical formation detection through template matching. The results show that overall 97% but less than 50% of player activity is visible in SF and TV, respectively. Experiment 1 indicates that visibility in SF and TV significantly affects the assessment of physical match intensity. Experiment 2 shows that SF visibility has no meaningful effect on formation recognition accuracy, while limited visibility in TV results in minor accuracy reductions. The findings suggest that while some tactical analysis can be reliably conducted using broadcast tracking data, physical metrics may be more susceptible to inaccuracies caused by missing data. Although data quality may be improved through interpolation of missing player trajectories, researchers and practitioners rely on transparency from data providers regarding their methods to assess the sufficiency of their data to the task at hand.</p>","PeriodicalId":74767,"journal":{"name":"Science & medicine in football","volume":" ","pages":"1-11"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-07-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144651494","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Menstrual cycle, hormonal contraceptives, and pelvic floor dysfunction in ladies Gaelic football and Camogie: prevalence of use, side-effects, and perceived symptomology.","authors":"David Nolan, Poppy Jean Maguire, Lee Bell","doi":"10.1080/24733938.2025.2534455","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/24733938.2025.2534455","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This study investigated the prevalence of hormonal contraceptive (HC) use and perceived side-effects, menstrual cycle (MC)-related symptoms and perceived influences on performance, and pelvic floor dysfunction (PFD) screening items among female athletes in ladies Gaelic football and camogie. An anonymous online survey was completed by 455 athletes currently competing in these sports in Ireland. Participants provided information on demographics, sport participation, MC characteristics, HC use, perceived symptomatology, and PFD screening items. In this cohort, 51.7% of respondents were current HC users, with the oral contraceptive pill being the most commonly reported HC type (69.2%). Among HC users, 62.0% self-reported negative side effects with fatigue (37.2%) and mood changes (35.0%) the most prevalent. Of the non-HC users, 97.7% self-reported MC-related symptoms, with abdominal cramping (84.0%) and fatigue (82.2%) being the most prevalent. Pelvic floor dysfunction-related symptoms were also common, with urinary urgency (47.8%), genital pain (44.3%) the most experienced. These findings demonstrate a notable prevalence of HC use, MC-related symptoms, and PFD symptoms in this population. This study may provide a rationale for increased education and support for female athletes, coaches, and volunteers in Gaelic games regarding these health issues, as well as the development of individualised strategies for managing symptoms. Future research should focus on PFD in Gaelic Games athletes, incorporating objective measures and exploring interventions to mitigate these issues.</p>","PeriodicalId":74767,"journal":{"name":"Science & medicine in football","volume":" ","pages":"1-10"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-07-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144644360","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Health problems in top-level female football players: a four-season prospective study in the Finnish top football league.","authors":"Iida Mustakoski, Einari Kurittu, Tommi Vasankari, Tuomas Brinck, Jari Parkkari, Olli Heinonen, Mari Leppänen","doi":"10.1080/24733938.2025.2524175","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/24733938.2025.2524175","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The objective was to examine the prevalence, incidence rate, and burden of health problems among top-level female football players in Finland. During the four-season follow-up, altogether 372 players (mean age 20.6 years) from 13 teams participated. Players reported all health problems (sudden-onset injuries, gradual-onset injuries and illnesses) weekly using a mobile application. Training exposure was collected at the team level from coaches and individual match exposure from the match statistics. Prevalence, incidence rate, and burden of injuries and illnesses were calculated. The average weekly response rate was 87%. The weekly prevalence of any health problem was 23.1% (95% CI 21.0-25.3%). Prevalence of health problems causing moderate or severe modifications in sports participation/performance (substantial health problems) was 15.8% (95% CI 14.2-17.7%). Altogether 783 injuries (5.5 injuries per 1000 hours) and 586 illnesses (1.7 cases per 365 player-days) were reported. Seventy percent of injuries were sudden-onset (3.7 per 1000 hours) and 30% gradual-onset injuries (1.6 per 1000 hours). The incidence rate of sudden-onset injuries per 1000 hours was 2.3 (1.9-2.7) in training and 15.3 (11.2-21.0) in match play. Sudden-onset injuries accounted for 54% of total time loss, gradual-onset injuries 17%, and illnesses 30%. Thigh (19%) and ankle (18%) injuries were most common. Knee injuries, particularly ACL injuries, were the most severe, with knee injuries causing 53% and ACL injuries 28% of all injury time loss. Sudden-onset injuries, occurring mainly in matches, posed the greatest health burden for female football players.</p>","PeriodicalId":74767,"journal":{"name":"Science & medicine in football","volume":" ","pages":"1-17"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-07-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144610490","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Injury surveillance in The FA Walking Football Cup 2024.","authors":"Alfie G Price, Bradley Sprouse, Avinash Chandran, John Hough, Philip J Hennis, Ali Ahmed, Thaila Hibberd, Ian Varley","doi":"10.1080/24733938.2025.2524172","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/24733938.2025.2524172","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Walking Football is an adaptation of Association Football, played primarily by middle-aged and older adults, with rule changes to enhance accessibility. Sport participation poses injury risks, yet the risk of injury in Walking Football has not been established. This study quantifies injury incidence, estimates injury burden, and examines injury characteristics. The prospective observational study recorded injuries during The FA Walking Football Cup 2024, featuring 84 teams in three categories: Women's 40 years+, Mixed Gender 50 years+, and Mixed Gender 60 years+. Time-loss injuries (≥1 day estimated absence), and medical attention injuries (on-field attention only) were measured along with match exposure (total playing-hours). Injury incidence and estimated injury burden per 1000 player-hours, and injury characteristics, were analysed. Across all categories, 42 match injuries occurred over 850.6 h of exposure, with 8 time-loss (19%) and 34 medical attention injuries (81%). The overall injury incidence was 49.4 injuries per 1000 h, with time-loss injury incidence at 9.4 and medical attention injury incidence at 40.0 injuries per 1000 h. The total estimated injury burden was 156.4 days absent per 1000 h. Injuries were evenly distributed between non-contact (52%) and contact mechanisms (48%), with tackles representing 45% of cases and running, explicitly prohibited in Walking Football, accounting for 12%. Overall, Walking Football has a low injury risk, with most injuries classified as non-time-loss. However, the prevalence of contact-related injuries suggests stricter enforcement of minimal contact rules could further reduce injury incidence. Safety strategies should prioritise reducing tackle-related injuries and minimising running to ensure player welfare.</p>","PeriodicalId":74767,"journal":{"name":"Science & medicine in football","volume":" ","pages":"1-12"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144499791","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Injury, illness, and mental health problems during the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup.","authors":"Donna Lu, Benjamin Clarsen, Matthew Whalan, Andreas Serner, Rob Duffield, Mark Fulcher, Duncan Reid, Liam Toohey, Stella Veith, Carolina Wilke, Andrea Mosler","doi":"10.1080/24733938.2025.2524168","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/24733938.2025.2524168","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Our study aimed to describe the patterns and characteristics of injuries and illnesses incurred during the FIFA Women's World Cup 2023 (FWWC2023). Team medical personnel recorded all injuries, illnesses, and mental health problems requiring medical attention, plus match, and training exposure into a centralised FIFA database using recent consensus-based methodology. Of the 32 teams at FWWC2023, 26 teams participated in the study, including 536 of 742 players. A total of 161 medical-attention injuries (incidence rate (IR): 14.2 per 1000 h [95% CI: 12.1 to 16.6]) and 59 time-loss injuries (IR: 5.2 per 1000 h [CI: 4.0 to 6.7]) were reported. Time-loss match injury IR was 14.0 per 1000 h [CI: 8.9 to 21.1] and training IR 2.2 per 1000 h [CI: 1.3 to 3.3]. The knee and thigh were the most frequently injured locations, while the lower leg created the highest overall time-loss burden. Time-loss injuries were mostly reported from contact mechanisms (59%), particularly with an opponent. There were 41 medical-attention illnesses (IR: 4.2 per 1000 player-days [CI: 3 to 5.6]) and 8 time-loss illnesses (IR: 0.8 per 1000 player-days [CI: 0.3 to 1.6]) reported. Respiratory illnesses (16 medical-attention and 7 time-loss) were the most frequent, with a burden of 1.2 days lost per 1000 player days [CI: 0.4 to 2.2]. The IR of mental health problems was low (0.2 per 1000 player-days [CI: 0.02 to 0.7]). Compared to previous international tournaments of both sexes, injury incidence and burden at the FWWC2023 was low.</p>","PeriodicalId":74767,"journal":{"name":"Science & medicine in football","volume":" ","pages":"1-11"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144478191","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Barriers and enablers to implementing the UEFA Consensus Statement on Nutrition: insights from sport nutrition practitioners in the English Premier League.","authors":"Nessan Costello, Stephanie Roe, Susan H Backhouse, Meghan Rowenna Noelle Bentley","doi":"10.1080/24733938.2025.2517055","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/24733938.2025.2517055","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Despite the importance of evidence-based nutrition in elite football, Premier League players often exhibit sub-optimal dietary behaviours, highlighting the need for improved guideline implementation.</p><p><strong>Purpose: </strong>This study used the COM-B model and Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF) to explore sport nutritionists' perceived barriers and enablers to applying the UEFA Consensus Statement on Nutrition.</p><p><strong>Method: </strong>Twelve lead sport nutritionists from English Premier League clubs took part in semi-structured interviews (1 hour ± 44 mins). The interviews were structured using the COM-B and TDF and analysed thematically.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Six key themes were identified, representing six barriers and two enablers, encompassing all three components of the COM-B model and seven TDF domains. <i>Psychological capability</i> barriers included challenges in changing players' dietary behaviours. <i>Reflective motivation</i> was hindered by doubts regarding the scientific basis of carbohydrate and body composition guidelines, alongside concerns over players' ability to practically adhere to carbohydrate recommendations. <i>Physical and social opportunity</i> barriers involved restricted time and support for ongoing personal and professional development. Practitioners desired greater autonomy over the nutrition service, which was either enabled or constrained by the club' social environment. As an enabler, female practitioners' strong interpersonal skills (<i>psychological capability</i>) supported implementation; however, they also faced gender-related challenges navigating male predominate environments, making the <i>social opportunity</i> for implementation more complex.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Implementing nutrition guidelines in elite football is challenging. Overcoming barriers-by boosting practitioner confidence, belief in guidelines, professional development support, and autonomy-is key to improving uptake of UEFA recommendations and enhancing player dietary adherence in the English Premier League.</p>","PeriodicalId":74767,"journal":{"name":"Science & medicine in football","volume":" ","pages":"1-14"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144328042","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Perspectives on data analytics for gaining a competitive advantage in football: harnessing data for decision support.","authors":"Anne Hecksteden, Matthias Kempe, Julian Berger","doi":"10.1080/24733938.2025.2517056","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/24733938.2025.2517056","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In this issue, Olthof and Davis highlight the potential of computational methods for gaining a competitive advantage in football and call for a closer collaboration between football and data science experts to fully leverage these opportunities. While we agree in principle with both aspects, we would like to amend some considerations that may contribute nuances to this perspective.Sustained success in a competitive environment results from a stream of good, well-informed decisions. Computational methods may support decision making in football by alleviating information overload, time constraints, unintended variation, and human biases. The advantages for data management and automated feature extraction are beyond doubt. However, as also emphasized by Olthof and Davis, the critical part of decision making is a prediction task: Forecasting the potential outcome of the available options and choosing between options based on limited amounts of information. Over the last two decades, the use of large amounts of data for the construction of sophisticated metrics and predictive models has gained widespread use in elite football. However, high-dimensional, data-driven algorithms don't necessarily provide the most accurate and helpful predictions. Rather, deliberately sparse, interpretable models that leverage data-driven modelling as well as domain expertise have repeatedly shown to have competitive predictive performance while at the same time avoiding the downsides of black-box algorithms for decision support. We illustrate this 'less-can-be-more' effect with two worked examples based on real-world data. Finally, predictability of an outcome can be low even in principle, putting hard limits to predictive accuracy regardless of modelling strategy.</p>","PeriodicalId":74767,"journal":{"name":"Science & medicine in football","volume":" ","pages":"1-9"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-06-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144251227","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}