Characteristics of potential head injuries across three FIFA Futsal World Cups from 2016 to 2024: A video analysis...

To evaluate potential head injuries across three consecutive FIFA Futsal World Cups held between 2016 and 2024.

All match footage from the 2016, 2021, and 2024 FIFA Futsal World Cups (men's tournaments) were evaluated, focusing on the occurrence of potential head injuries, player actions, visible signs of possible concussion, and outcomes. Comparisons between variables (Chi-square) were based on whether the player showed visible signs of possible concussion and received a medical assessment after the potential head injury incident.

A total of 242 potential head injuries were identified across 155 matches (1.56/match), with an incidence of 229.8 potential head injuries/1000 match hours. Of these, 76.8% (n = 182) resulted from opponent direct contact, with 59.5% (n = 141) from upper extremity contacts. There were 24 potential head injuries (10.3%) with a total of 27 visible signs of possible concussion. Across all incidents, 32.5% (n = 76) were evaluated by medical staff, compared with 83.3% (n = 20) of incidents with visible signs of possible concussion. The most common inciting player action was a block (21.5%, n = 51), followed by ball progression (18.6%, n = 44). There was a statistically significant difference in contact mechanisms between incidents with and without visible signs of concussion (p < 0.01, V = 0.27), influenced by a higher proportion of incidents with visible signs resulting from unintentional ball-to-head contact.

Although the predominant mechanism of potential head injuries was direct contact with an opponent, a higher proportion of incidents with visible signs resulted from unintentional ball-to-head contact, underscoring key priority areas for head injury prevention in futsal.