{"id":91762,"date":"2026-07-06T16:04:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T22:04:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/?p=91762"},"modified":"2026-07-06T16:10:41","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T22:10:41","slug":"common-soccer-injuries-prevention-study","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/common-soccer-injuries-prevention-study\/","title":{"rendered":"How common are soccer injuries? Amid rough games and penalty debates, how can referees and doctors help prevent harmful fouls?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A pro soccer player can expect to be injured, on average, once every 18 games, and even common injuries can keep a player out for weeks. UCHealth expert and Colorado Rapids chief medical officer, Dr. Jack Spittler, led a study that quantified soccer injuries and aims to protect players. Photo: Getty Images.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A soccer player writhes on the ground in apparent agony. The opponent who fouled him gets a yellow card. The player then pops up and plays on as if nothing had happened.<\/p>\n

That sort of thing has attracted healthy doses of scorn and satire<\/a>. But as those watching the 2026 World Cup or any professional soccer game can plainly see, the world\u2019s most popular sport is a rough one, and the injuries are too often real.<\/p>\n

Dr. Jack Spittler<\/a>, a UCHealth Family Medicine and Orthopedics specialist, has plenty of firsthand knowledge of soccer injuries: He has been the Colorado Rapids\u2019 chief medical officer since 2020. The University of Colorado Anschutz School of Medicine<\/a> Family Medicine and primary-care sports medicine associate professor<\/a> wanted to understand the nature of injuries at the game\u2019s highest levels \u2014 and, more importantly, how to prevent them.<\/p>\n

He and University of Colorado Anschutz School of Medicine Family Medicine and primary care sports medicine professor<\/a> Dr. Morteza Khodaee<\/a> reached out to a group of experts including FC Barcelona\u2019s head of medical services; a researcher from the FIFA Medical Center of Excellence in Bologna, Italy; the Philadelphia Union\u2019s team physician; the National Women\u2019s Soccer League\u2019s chief medical officer; and others from as far away as Australia. Together, they distilled the key points of 201 academic articles into a little more than eight pages of text that appeared in the October 2025 edition of Current Sports Medicine Reports<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Pro soccer injuries are costly<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Their report<\/a>, \u201cInjury Risk Reduction Strategies in Professional Football (Soccer): What is the Evidence,\u201d dishes out ample statistical proof that, for all the theatrics, the men and women who bestride professional soccer pitches are brave souls indeed.<\/p>\n

A pro soccer player can expect, on average, to be injured roughly once every 18<\/a> or so 90-minute games. Seeing as top European teams play more than 50 games a year \u2014 not to mention the international fixtures the players on such teams often participate in \u2014 injuries are the rule rather than the exception.<\/p>\n

For players, injuries can take weeks or longer out of already short careers, and that doesn\u2019t count the time it takes to regain form once back on the pitch. For clubs, the average cost of a player from a top professional team being injured for a month eclipses $500,000<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Consider the case of U.S. men\u2019s national team star, Christian Pulisic, who strained his hamstring during an Oct. 14, 2025 match against Australia in Commerce City. Amortized over AC Milan\u2019s 50 games, his roughly $6 million annual base salary amounts to $120,000 per match. Pulisic missed four games over the 23 days he was out.<\/p>\n

A rundown of common soccer injuries<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Spittler, Khodaee, and their coauthors broke soccer injuries down by type and frequency. The researchers explored injuries ranging from muscle strains and ankle sprains to chest injuries and sudden cardiac death.<\/p>\n

A few lowlights of soccer injuries:<\/strong><\/h3>\n