Video analysis of potential head injury situations in FIFA Beach Soccer World Cups

To evaluate potential head injuries across three consecutive FIFA Beach Soccer World Cups held between 2019 and 2024.

All match footage from the 2019, 2021, and 2024 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cups (men only tournaments) were evaluated focusing on occurrence of a potential head injury, player actions (including overhead kick), and visible signs of a possible concussion.

A total of 309 potential head injuries were identified across 96 matches (3.2/match), with an incidence of 527.8 potential head injuries per 1000 match-hours. In total, 17.5 % (n = 54) of potential head injuries were associated with overhead kicks, 17.9 % (n = 55) demonstrated a visible sign of a possible concussion (involving 51 different players), and 25.3 % (n = 78) occurred during aerial duels. Ball-related head impacts accounted for 15.5 % of all potential head injuries, rising to 46.3 % in overhead kick-related potential head injuries and 34.6 % among potential head injuries with visible signs of a possible concussion. Eighty-nine potential head injuries (28.9 %) were evaluated by medical staff, 27 (49.1 %) of the 55 players with visible signs of a possible concussion were not medically evaluated.

The findings demonstrated that the incidence of potential head injuries in beach soccer is 3.2 per-match, which is 7.6× higher than the data previously reported in men's association football. Player-to-player impact, unintentional ball impacts and overhead kicks contributed significantly to this elevated incidence. The observation that 17.9 % of potential head injuries exhibited visible signs of possible concussion highlights the need for future studies that incorporate clinical evaluations to improve understanding of these potential head injuries.