The Prevalence, Nature, and Burden of Sports Injuries Among Amateur Football Players
A Single-Site Prospective Study
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Abstract
Football injuries are common and result from a complex interaction of intrinsic and extrinsic risk factors, making injury surveillance essential for guiding prevention strategies, particularly in amateur settings. This prospective cohort study monitored 45 players from City of Lusaka Football Club for six months in the 2024/25 season to determine the prevalence, incidence, and types of injuries experienced. Injury-related data were recorded using standardised surveillance procedures, and descriptive statistics were used to summarise player characteristics and injury patterns, while incidence rates were calculated per 1,000 hours of exposure. The study recorded an injury prevalence of 60% with 43 injuries documented. The overall incidence was 6.09 per 1,000 player-hours (95% CI: 4.27–7.91), consisting of 3.81 per 1,000 player-hours (95% CI: 2.34–5.27) during training and 72.0 per 1,000 player-hours (95% CI: 37.8–106.3) during competition. Most injuries (72.1%) were mild in severity, and the total injury burden was 39.5 days lost per 1,000 hours (95% CI: 34.9–44.1), with a mean burden of 6.5 days per 1,000 hours. Lower-limb injuries predominated, particularly those affecting the ankle and knee, with sprain-ligament injuries accounting for 76.7% of all cases. These findings highlight a substantial injury burden among amateur players and underline the urgent need for continuous, well-structured injury surveillance systems to inform targeted prevention strategies, optimise player welfare, and support safer participation in resource-limited football environments where standardised monitoring remains critically underdeveloped.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Chrispin Banda , Geoffrey Moyo, Dr. Loveness. L. Nkhata (Author)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Dr. Loveness. L. Nkhata , The University of Zambia, School of Health Sciences, Physiotherapy Department, Zambia.
Department of physiotherapy.
Lecturer
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