The UEFA Heading Study: Heading incidence in children’s and youth’ football (soccer) in eight European countries

Florian Beaudouin; Asimenia Gioftsidou; Malte Nejst Larsen; Koen Lemmink; Barry Drust; Roberto Modena; Javier Ramos Espinola; Mihai Meiu; Marc Vouillamoz; Tim Meyer

doi:10.1111/sms.13694

The UEFA Heading Study: Heading incidence in children’s and youth’ football (soccer) in eight European countries

Florian Beaudouin^*, Asimenia Gioftsidou, Malte Nejst Larsen, Koen Lemmink, Barry Drust, Roberto Modena, Javier Ramos Espinola, Mihai Meiu, Marc Vouillamoz, Tim Meyer

^*Corresponding author for this work

Life and Environmental Sciences

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

To assess the real-life magnitude of the heading incidence in children's and youth’ football in eight European countries with different “football cultures,” a cross-sectional observational design, in which one match per team in 480 different teams from eight European countries (2017/18-2018/19), was recorded by video. One training session was recorded in 312 teams. Clubs with Under-10, Under-12 (female/male/mixed), and Under-16 female and male teams were eligible to participate. Heading frequencies and types were analyzed. Results are presented as headers per match/training and per team. Incidence rates (IR) per 1000 match/training hours were calculated. Under-10 teams carried out the lowest average number of headers per match (8.8), followed by Under-16 female (17.7), Under-12 (18.4), and Under-16 male (35.5). Total number of headers per match and team varied between countries. 80% of the total number of headers were single intentional headers, 12% heading duels, 3% unintentional headers by getting hit, and 5% others (trends apparent in all age groups). Three head injuries occurred during match play corresponding to an IR of 0.70 (95% CI, 0.23-2.16). The lowest number of headers per training and team was found in Under-10 (21.3), followed by Under-16 females (34.1), Under-12 (35.8), and Under-16 males (45.0). In conclusion, this large-scale study presents novel data about the number and type of headers in youth’ football throughout Europe. A more precise understanding of the heading incidence, specifically in young players, is mandatory for the debate of restrictions on heading in youth football.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1506-1517
Number of pages	12
Journal	Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports
Volume	30
Issue number	8
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1111/sms.13694
Publication status	Published - 1 Aug 2020

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This study was funded by the Union des Associations Européennes de Football (UEFA).

Funding Information:
This study was funded by the Union des Associations Europ?ennes de Football (UEFA). We wish to thank all teams and players for their participation in this study. Also, we wish to thank the following persons who contributed to this project: Rasmus Cyril and Georgios Ermidis (Denmark); Richard Lewis (United Kingdom); Djem Djoudi (Germany); Paraskevi Malliou, Zikos Zisis, Theodoros Pontidis and Athanasios Gkrekidis (Greece); Matei-Serban Cristescu, Costin-Horatiu Darie and Rares-Laurentiu Ene (Romania); Alberto Ramos Espinola, Natascia Da Prato and Jorge P?rez Lumbreras (Spain); Celine Bouwmeester and Lars Edel (the Netherlands); Franco Impellizzeri (supporting the project on behalf of the Antidoping and Health Commission of the Italian Soccer Federation (FIGC); Peter Krustrup (Denmark, contributed to the study design and application).

Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 The Authors. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science In Sports published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd

Keywords

adolescents
head injury
heading
risk

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Orthopedics and Sports Medicine
Physical Therapy, Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation

Access to Document

10.1111/sms.13694

Cite this

Beaudouin, F., Gioftsidou, A., Larsen, M. N., Lemmink, K., Drust, B., Modena, R., Espinola, J. R., Meiu, M., Vouillamoz, M., & Meyer, T. (2020). The UEFA Heading Study: Heading incidence in children’s and youth’ football (soccer) in eight European countries. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports, 30(8), 1506-1517. https://doi.org/10.1111/sms.13694

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title = "The UEFA Heading Study: Heading incidence in children{\textquoteright}s and youth{\textquoteright} football (soccer) in eight European countries",

abstract = "To assess the real-life magnitude of the heading incidence in children's and youth{\textquoteright} football in eight European countries with different “football cultures,” a cross-sectional observational design, in which one match per team in 480 different teams from eight European countries (2017/18-2018/19), was recorded by video. One training session was recorded in 312 teams. Clubs with Under-10, Under-12 (female/male/mixed), and Under-16 female and male teams were eligible to participate. Heading frequencies and types were analyzed. Results are presented as headers per match/training and per team. Incidence rates (IR) per 1000 match/training hours were calculated. Under-10 teams carried out the lowest average number of headers per match (8.8), followed by Under-16 female (17.7), Under-12 (18.4), and Under-16 male (35.5). Total number of headers per match and team varied between countries. 80% of the total number of headers were single intentional headers, 12% heading duels, 3% unintentional headers by getting hit, and 5% others (trends apparent in all age groups). Three head injuries occurred during match play corresponding to an IR of 0.70 (95% CI, 0.23-2.16). The lowest number of headers per training and team was found in Under-10 (21.3), followed by Under-16 females (34.1), Under-12 (35.8), and Under-16 males (45.0). In conclusion, this large-scale study presents novel data about the number and type of headers in youth{\textquoteright} football throughout Europe. A more precise understanding of the heading incidence, specifically in young players, is mandatory for the debate of restrictions on heading in youth football.",

keywords = "adolescents, head injury, heading, risk",

author = "Florian Beaudouin and Asimenia Gioftsidou and Larsen, {Malte Nejst} and Koen Lemmink and Barry Drust and Roberto Modena and Espinola, {Javier Ramos} and Mihai Meiu and Marc Vouillamoz and Tim Meyer",

note = "Funding Information: This study was funded by the Union des Associations Europ{\'e}ennes de Football (UEFA). Funding Information: This study was funded by the Union des Associations Europ?ennes de Football (UEFA). We wish to thank all teams and players for their participation in this study. Also, we wish to thank the following persons who contributed to this project: Rasmus Cyril and Georgios Ermidis (Denmark); Richard Lewis (United Kingdom); Djem Djoudi (Germany); Paraskevi Malliou, Zikos Zisis, Theodoros Pontidis and Athanasios Gkrekidis (Greece); Matei-Serban Cristescu, Costin-Horatiu Darie and Rares-Laurentiu Ene (Romania); Alberto Ramos Espinola, Natascia Da Prato and Jorge P?rez Lumbreras (Spain); Celine Bouwmeester and Lars Edel (the Netherlands); Franco Impellizzeri (supporting the project on behalf of the Antidoping and Health Commission of the Italian Soccer Federation (FIGC); Peter Krustrup (Denmark, contributed to the study design and application). Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2020 The Authors. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science In Sports published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd",

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doi = "10.1111/sms.13694",

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AU - Larsen, Malte Nejst

AU - Lemmink, Koen

AU - Drust, Barry

AU - Modena, Roberto

AU - Espinola, Javier Ramos

AU - Meiu, Mihai

AU - Vouillamoz, Marc

AU - Meyer, Tim

N1 - Funding Information: This study was funded by the Union des Associations Européennes de Football (UEFA). Funding Information: This study was funded by the Union des Associations Europ?ennes de Football (UEFA). We wish to thank all teams and players for their participation in this study. Also, we wish to thank the following persons who contributed to this project: Rasmus Cyril and Georgios Ermidis (Denmark); Richard Lewis (United Kingdom); Djem Djoudi (Germany); Paraskevi Malliou, Zikos Zisis, Theodoros Pontidis and Athanasios Gkrekidis (Greece); Matei-Serban Cristescu, Costin-Horatiu Darie and Rares-Laurentiu Ene (Romania); Alberto Ramos Espinola, Natascia Da Prato and Jorge P?rez Lumbreras (Spain); Celine Bouwmeester and Lars Edel (the Netherlands); Franco Impellizzeri (supporting the project on behalf of the Antidoping and Health Commission of the Italian Soccer Federation (FIGC); Peter Krustrup (Denmark, contributed to the study design and application). Publisher Copyright: © 2020 The Authors. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science In Sports published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd

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N2 - To assess the real-life magnitude of the heading incidence in children's and youth’ football in eight European countries with different “football cultures,” a cross-sectional observational design, in which one match per team in 480 different teams from eight European countries (2017/18-2018/19), was recorded by video. One training session was recorded in 312 teams. Clubs with Under-10, Under-12 (female/male/mixed), and Under-16 female and male teams were eligible to participate. Heading frequencies and types were analyzed. Results are presented as headers per match/training and per team. Incidence rates (IR) per 1000 match/training hours were calculated. Under-10 teams carried out the lowest average number of headers per match (8.8), followed by Under-16 female (17.7), Under-12 (18.4), and Under-16 male (35.5). Total number of headers per match and team varied between countries. 80% of the total number of headers were single intentional headers, 12% heading duels, 3% unintentional headers by getting hit, and 5% others (trends apparent in all age groups). Three head injuries occurred during match play corresponding to an IR of 0.70 (95% CI, 0.23-2.16). The lowest number of headers per training and team was found in Under-10 (21.3), followed by Under-16 females (34.1), Under-12 (35.8), and Under-16 males (45.0). In conclusion, this large-scale study presents novel data about the number and type of headers in youth’ football throughout Europe. A more precise understanding of the heading incidence, specifically in young players, is mandatory for the debate of restrictions on heading in youth football.

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The UEFA Heading Study: Heading incidence in children’s and youth’ football (soccer) in eight European countries

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

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Cite this