Background Preseason assessment is common in sports teams and aims to analyze athletes’ physical and functional parameters. These data assist physical therapists to develop global and individualized injury prevention programs and to identify any improvement throughout the season.

Objective To determine predictors for musculoskeletal injuries in youth male soccer athletes.

Design Cohort study.

Setting One youth soccer team facility.

Patients (or Participants) One hundred sixteen young male soccer athletes.

Interventions (or Assessment of Risk Factors) All data were collected in two days. Athletes were aleatory selected to perform the tests and the physical therapists, previously trained, applied the following tests: single leg hamstring bridge (SLHB), bridge test with unilateral knee extension, passive hip internal rotation (IR) range of motion (ROM), hip abductor strength, hamstring flexibility and composite score of Y-Test. Considering it could have an interference in other tests, Y-Test were the last measure in all athletes. Injuries were collected throughout the season.

Main Outcome Measurements any lower limb (LL) injury occurring during scheduled games or practices that cause an athlete to miss a subsequent game or practice session.

Results The Classification and Regression Trees (CART) model identified as predictors of LL injuries in youth soccer athletes: SLHB, bridge test with unilateral knee extension, passive hip internal rotation ROM, hip abductors strength, hamstrings flexibility and composite score of Y-Test result. The model had an accuracy of 76% (p< .0001) and the correct classification was 88.6% for injury and 56.6% for non-injury.

Conclusions The SLHB, bridge test with unilateral knee extension, passive hip internal rotation ROM, hip abductors strength, hamstrings flexibility and composite score of Y-Test should be included in pre-season assessment in youth soccer athletes. The results of these tests could be used as parameters to develop a prevention program in soccer.