Association between team season injury rates and performance in professional football
| Crude analyses* | Adjusted analyses* | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| β | 95% CI | p Value | β | 95% CI | p Value | |
| Final league ranking† | ||||||
| Injury incidence | −0.057 | −0.187 to 0.072 | 0.386 | −0.049 | −0.161 to 0.062 | 0.387 |
| Injury burden | −0.009 | −0.017 to −0.002 | 0.015 | −0.010 | −0.017 to −0.002 | 0.011 |
| Match availability | 0.086 | 0.005 to 0.168 | 0.037 | 0.085 | 0.008 to 0.163 | 0.031 |
| Points per league match† | ||||||
| Injury incidence | −0.026 | −0.048 to −0.003 | 0.026 | −0.024 | −0.046 to −0.002 | 0.035 |
| Injury burden | −0.002 | −0.003 to −0.001 | <0.001 | −0.002 | −0.003 to −0.001 | <0.001 |
| Match availability | 0.019 | 0.009 to 0.029 | <0.001 | 0.019 | 0.009 to 0.028 | <0.001 |
| UEFA SCC‡ | ||||||
| Injury incidence | 0.228 | −0.533 to 0.990 | 0.557 | 0.198 | −0.634 to 1.030 | 0.641 |
| Injury burden | −0.016 | −0.032 to 0.001 | 0.062 | −0.021 | −0.042 to −0.001 | 0.043 |
| Match availability | 0.179 | −0.009 to 0.367 | 0.062 | 0.205 | 0.002 to 0.408 | 0.048 |
*Analyses were made using a Generalised Estimating Equation with identity link to fit a linear regression on team-level data, with each team-season change as an observation. A negative β value for injury incidence and injury burden, and a positive β value for match availability, indicate an association between a lower season injury rate (compared with the adjacent preceding season) and a higher final league ranking, higher average points per league match and higher UEFA SCC, respectively.
†Adjusted analyses of final league ranking and points per league match included change of head coach and UEFA SCC as independent variables.
‡Adjusted analyses of UEFA SCC included change of head coach and points per league match as independent variables.
SCC, season club coefficient; UEFA, Union of European Football associations.