A video-based analysis of situations bearing the risk of respiratory disease transmission during football matches

Abstract

We aimed to analyze the number and type of contacts involving the risk of respiratory disease transmission during football match play. We analysed 50 matches from different playing levels. Two reviewers evaluated the contacts of all players in each match. We focused on between-player contacts, crowding, actions with potentially increased aerosol and droplet production and within-player hand-to-head contacts. We categorized the duels with direct contact into frontal and other ones and measured contact duration. The number of between-player contacts were similar between playing levels (median 28.3 [IQR 22.6, 33] contacts per player-hour). Frontal contacts summed up to 8% of all contacts. Contacts involving the head occurred less than once per player and match with none lasting longer than 3 s. Crowding included between two and six players and the duration was mostly less than 10 s. Aerosol and droplet producing activities were three to four times more frequent in adult compared to youth players. Our results suggest that the risk of respiratory pathogen transmission is low during football matches. This conclusion is based on the finding that most close contact situations are of short duration and on the fact that it is an outdoor sport.

Case Report: Assessing COVID-19 Transmission in Professional Volleyball in Germany, September to December 2020: An Epidemiological Study

“…Two other studies used video recordings of soccer matches to investigate the contact times of players. The risk of transmission was found to be low taking into account that soccer is an outdoor sport (Egger et al, 2021 ; Faude et al, 2022 ).…”

Football in Times of COVID-19: A Recapitulation of Preventive Measures and Infection Control Policies Aiming at a Safe Game Environment

“…resumed on the pitch and in the stands, during the COVID-19 pandemic. [17][18][19][20][21][22][23] A few studies examined specific contact patterns and the potential risk of respiratory disease transmission on the football field. 19,20,24 According to a tracking system, the average exposure time per pair of individuals in a professional football game was 32 seconds.…”

“…[17][18][19][20][21][22][23] A few studies examined specific contact patterns and the potential risk of respiratory disease transmission on the football field. 19,20,24 According to a tracking system, the average exposure time per pair of individuals in a professional football game was 32 seconds. 24 In a video-based analysis of 3 matches involving 18 potentially infectious COVID-19-positive football players, contact with the mucosa of the mouth, nose, and eyes (ie, a potential source of virus transmission) was less frequent in infected players than in everyday situations.…”

“…19 A video analysis of 50 football games revealed that common player behaviors that increase aerosol and droplet production (eg, talking, shouting, and spitting) were extremely rare. 20 In a study assessing the risk of COVID-19 transmission from on-field player contacts in amateur, youth, and professional football, Schreiber et al 18 reported that 104 cases (38 training sessions and 66 matches) with 165 potentially infectious players were detected out of 1247 identified football matches and training sessions (1071 amateur and youth levels; 176 professional level). Professional-level PCR testing (44 cases) revealed no evidence of transmission.…”

“…23 Despite the fact that some footballers in the investigated clubs had been infected, there was no evident sign of surface transmission in football club facilities when standard cleaning procedures were used in addition to close monitoring of the players. 22 As a limitation, the studies assessing infection control contain bias that may skew the results, [17][18][19][20][21][22][23] as none of them considered the different strains when designing their various protocols. Assessing the infection rate during a match, training, or in the changing room would be very different among severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 strains Alpha, Delta, or Omicron; each of these variants (and potentially subvariant) has a different R0 (R0 value represents the average number of people infected by 1 infectious individual and shows how quickly the virus can spread).…”