Background The Adductor Strengthening Programme (ASP) is the first groin specific prevention programme proven to reduce the risk of groin problems in male football. Widespread dissemination of the programme and its preventative effect is recommended, however, successful implementation require researchers acquiring comprehensive knowledge of the implementation context. Using the Reach Effectiveness Adoption Implementation Maintenance (RE-AIM) framework is recommended for this procedure.

Objectives First, to investigate delivery agents’ attitudes, beliefs, and behaviour regarding the ASP using the RE-AIM framework. Second, to present a ‘best practice’ protocol based on the reported usage of the ASP in a professional team setting.

Design Descriptive cross-sectional.

Setting Norwegian male professional football teams.

Participants The primary delivery agent of injury prevention exercise programmes in each team (n=32).

Intervention Survey using a pilot tested questionnaire.

Results Twenty-nine (91%) participants responded. All respondents (100%) were familiar with the ASP and its potential to mitigate the burden of groin problems. All delivery agents (100%) adopted the ASP, however, only 10% used it in accordance with the evidence-based protocol. The main modifications were that players in 72% of the teams were instructed to perform a non-progressive number of repetitions during pre-season, and 86% of the teams performed more sets, but fewer repetitions per set during in-season. In total, 97% of delivery agents planned to continue using the ASP in the subsequent season. The two most stated reasons for using the ASP, were first, its documented injury preventive effect and second, that it doesn’t require any additional equipment.

Conclusion The delivery agents had positive attitudes and beliefs to the ASP. Moreover, they widely adopted and planned to maintain its usage in the next season. Most of the delivery agents modified the original ASP protocol, which warrant further investigations.