Operational definitions used in the study
| Training session | Team training that involves physical activity under the supervision of the coaching staff |
| Match | Competitive or friendly match against another team |
| Injury | Injury resulting from playing football and leading to a player being unable to fully participate in future training or match play (ie, time loss injury) |
| Rehabilitation | A player is considered injured until the team's medical staff allows full participation in training and availability for match selection |
| Reinjury | Injury of the same type and at the same site as an index injury occurring no more than 2 months after a player's return to full participation from the index injury |
| Slight/minimal injury | Injury causing 0–3 days’ absence from training and match play |
| Mild injury | Injury causing 4–7 days’ absence from training and match play |
| Moderate injury | Injury causing 8–28 days’ absence from training and match play |
| Severe injury | Injury causing more than 28 days’ absence from training and match play |
| Traumatic injury | Injury with sudden onset and known cause |
| Overuse injury | Injury with insidious onset and no known trauma |
| Ligament injury | Traumatic distraction injury to a ligament leading to a player being unable to fully participate in training or match play |
| Muscle injury | Traumatic distraction or overuse injury to a muscle leading to a player being unable to fully participate in training or match play |
| Injury rate | Number of injuries per 1000 h ((Σ injuries/Σ exposure hours)×1000) |
| Injury burden | Number of days absent per 1000 h ((Σ days’ absence/Σ exposure hours)×1000) |