Perceived Links between Playing Surfaces and Injury: A Worldwide Study of Elite Association Football Players

This is an Open Access Article. It is published by Springer under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported Licence (CC BY). Full details of this licence are available at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Background: Injuries in association football (soccer) are debilitating for players and can also be detrimental to the success of a team or club. The type or condition of a playing surface has been empirically linked to injuries, yet results are inconclusive. The overall purpose of this study was to analyse elite football players’ perceived links between playing surfaces and injury from a worldwide cohort of players. The results of this study can help to inform areas for future playing surface research aimed at trying to alleviate user concerns and meet user (i.e. the player) needs. Methods: Quantitative data were collected from 1129 players across the globe to address the aim of this study. Results: Ninety-one percent of players believed the type or condition of a surface could increase injury risk. Abrasive injuries, along with soreness and pain, were perceived to be greater on artificial turf. Surface type, surface properties and age were all potential risk factors identified by the players and linked to the playing surfaces. Conclusions: The results identified three areas where future research should be focussed to help develop surfaces that alleviate user concerns and meet user (i.e. player) needs: (i) current reporting of soreness, pain or fatigue as injuries, (ii) contribution of surface properties to injury; and (iii) surface experience of players from different countries differentiates their views of injury risk

Elite football players' perceptions of football turf and natural grass surface properties.

AbstractGiven the global spread of football (soccer) there are substantial differences in the playing surfaces used between FIFA member associations. This paper contains results from the second part of a study on elite football players’ perceptions of playing surfaces from across the globe. Using a questionnaire, which was developed based on an initial qualitative study, elite players’ perceptions of differences in surface properties between natural and artificial (football) turf were examined. In total, 1129 elite footballers, representing 43 countries across six FIFA confederations completed the questionnaire. Exploratory analysis of overall responses revealed that the players had strong opinions with regards to surface properties when directly comparing natural and football turf. In particular, a higher proportion of players stated that football turf was “Too hard/Harder”, “More level”, “More abrasive” and had “Less grip” compared to natural grass. The results also showed that overall players’ perceptions of surface properties, between natural grass and football turf were dependent on their experience of different playing surfaces during their junior and senior careers, in particular, the variability within football turf pitches