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Table 1 Injury incidence and injury burden for teams that had their 2019/20 season postponed and cancelled following the COVID-19 lockdown with corresponding data from 2015–2019

From: Influence of the COVID-19 Lockdown and Restart on the Injury Incidence and Injury Burden in Men’s Professional Football Leagues in 2020: The UEFA Elite Club Injury Study

Period of season

2019/20 season postponed

(14 teams)

2019/20 season cancelled

(5 teams)

2015–2019 (mean (SD) 34 ± 3 teams)

January to March 2020

   

Training injury incidence (IQR)

3.0 (1.9–3.3)

3.4 (2.5–4.6)

2.8 (2.7–2.9)

Match injury incidence (IQR)

22.5 (16.8–24.2)

24.0 (4.6–31.7)

22.0 (20.5–23.1)

Training injury burden (IQR)

79 (30–155)

33 (23–49)

51 (48–60)

Match injury burden (IQR)

582 (324–922)

457 (181–545)

426 (422–427)

Restart of the 2019/20 season*

   

Training injury incidence (IQR)

4.1 (3.2–6.1)

N/A

3.0 (2.4–3.3)

Match injury incidence (IQR)

20.0 (11.0–22.2)

N/A

20.4 (17.9–22.6)

Training injury burden (IQR)

124 (69–191)

N/A

42 (38–43)

Match injury burden (IQR)

355 (182–508)

N/A

452 (394–515)

Start of the 2020/21 season

   

Training injury incidence (IQR)

3.3 (2.5–4.2)

3.7 (3.4–4.2)

2.7 (2.5–3.0)

Match injury incidence (IQR)

21.0 (14.8–34.0)

19.8 (15.7–19.4)

21.1 (20.6–21.3)

Training injury burden (IQR)

56 (38–74)

62 (27–79)

57 (57–67)

Match injury burden (IQR)

449 (158–692)

532 (365–632)

534 (534–555)

Full calendar year

   

Training injury incidence (IQR)

3.4 (2.7–4.1)

3.6 (3.1–3.8)

2.7 (2.7–2.9)

Match injury incidence (IQR)

21.2 (16.6–24.6)

20.6 (11.4–21.9)

20.8 (20.5–21.4)

Training injury burden (IQR)

83 (61–103)

59 (54–65)

52 (45–59)

Match injury burden (IQR)

469 (331–665)

485 (402–461)

484 (476–509)

  1. Injury incidence is presented as the number of injuries per 1000 h and injury burden as the number of injury absence days per 1000 h. Injury incidence is presented with one decimal and injury burden (days) without
  2. IQR, interquartile range; SD, standard deviation
  3. *April to July for teams that had their 2019/20 season postponed and April–May for 2015–2019
  4. September to December for teams that had their 2019/20 season postponed and August to December for both teams that had their 2019/20 season cancelled and for teams 2015–2019