Estimation of injury costs: financial damage of English Premier League teams’ underachievement due to injuries

Abstract

BackgroundIn individual sports, the effect that injuries have on an athlete’s performance, success and financial profit is implicit. In contrast, the effect of a single player’s injury or one player’s absence in team sports is much more difficult to quantify, both from the performance perspective and the financial perspective.ObjectivesIn this study, we attempted to estimate the effect of injuries on the performance of football teams from the English Premier League (EPL), and the financial implications derived from this effect.MethodsOur analysis is based on data regarding game results, injuries and estimations of the players’ financial value for the 2012–2013 through the 2016–2017 seasons.ResultsWe found a statistically significant relationship (r=−0.46, 95% CI −0.6 to 0.28, p=0.001) between the number of days out due to injuries suffered by team members during a season and the place difference between their actual and expected finish in the EPL table (according to overall player value). Moreover, we can interpolate that approximately 136 days out due to injury causes a team the loss of one league point, and that approximately 271 days out due to injury costs a team one place in the table. This interpolation formula is used as a heuristic model, and given the relationship specified above accounts for a significant portion of the variance in league placement (21%), the remaining variance is related to other factors. Calculating the costs of wage bills and prize money, we estimate that an EPL team loses an average of £45 million sterling due to injury-related decrement in performance per season.ConclusionProfessional football clubs have a strong economic incentive to invest in injury prevention and rehabilitation programmes.

Do exercise-based prevention programmes reduce non-contact musculoskeletal injuries in football (soccer)? A systematic review and meta-analysis with 13 355 athletes and more than 1 million exposure hours

“…[16][17][18][19] Professional teams lose approximately £45 million (~US$55 million) per season due to injuries from 2012 to 2017. 20 To reduce absence from training and competition, interventions to reduce injuries among football players have been developed. 21 22 One of the available intervention programmes for football players is the general (ie, targeting multiple body parts) exercise-based programme FIFA 11+.…”

A Preseason Training Program With the Nordic Hamstring Exercise Increases Eccentric Knee Flexor Strength and Fascicle Length in Professional Female Soccer Players

“…[2][3][4] According data from 2016-2017 season, English Premier League male clubs suffered an average of 1410 days out due to injury and lost £45 million per season due to injury-related decrements in performance. 5 The extent of the injury-related losses is not yet clear in the context of female professional soccer, but there is no doubt that injury prevention is a current priority of soccer medicine in both sexes.…”

Return to Play After a Hamstring Strain Injury: It is Time to Consider Natural Healing

“…These HSIs do not only come with high expenses in health care for diagnosis and treatment, they also cause substantial financial losses in elite football. As the average annual cost of injuries in a first division English team is calculated around 45 million British pounds [12], and the mean time loss after a HSI is approximately 20 days [8,[13][14][15], (re)injury prevention is of utmost importance to both the individual player and the club. However, despite the growing evidence-based knowledge and countless scientific efforts to reduce the unremittingly high incidence of HSIs by providing prevention strategies [16][17][18], (re)occurrence rates are still extensive [15].…”