Illnesses and Diseases Constitute a Quarter of Medical Conditions in an Under-21 National Football Team

There is a minimal number of studies of under-21-year-old national football teams, and the literature is injury centric. Particularly, current knowledge is deficient regarding noninjurious medical conditions, such as illnesses and diseases.

The objectives of this study were to analyze the descriptive characteristics of injuries and illnesses or diseases encountered in an under-21 football team during 2 European championship qualification tournaments.

Medical records of 2 consecutive men's Union of European Football Associations European Under-21 Championship qualification competition tournaments were retrospectively analyzed for the study from September 2015 to October 2018. All match- and training-related injuries, illnesses, and diseases were analyzed and further categorized.

In the 20 international caps played within 13 separate events, the players encountered 81 injuries and 26 other conditions, illnesses, or diseases requiring medical attention. In total, 25 injuries and 5 diseases led to attendance inability. The incidence of injury was 0.6 per match and disease 0.3 per day. Many overuse injuries appeared during prematch training and in relation to previous history. Twenty-four percent of all medical conditions during 2 qualification tournaments were illnesses or diseases. The injury and disease incidences were low and mild or moderate rather than severe.

A variety of illnesses and diseases constitute a quarter of conditions requiring medical attention in an under-21 national football team. Attendance at under-21 national team events can be stated as safe as the incidence and severity rates are low.