The Effectiveness of a Coach-Focused Intervention on Preventing Knee Injuries in Amateur Football Players

The Effectiveness of a Coach-Focused Intervention on Preventing Acute Severe Knee Injuries in Amateur Football Players: A Cluster Randomized Superiority Trial

The goal of this clinical trial is to find out if a coach-focused intervention can help prevent sudden-onset, severe knee injuries in youth and senior amateur football players. The main question it aims to answer is:

Does a coach-focused intervention reduce the number of sudden-onset, severe knee injuries? Researchers will compare a coach-focused intervention, designed to help coaches to use effective injury prevention training, to usual football practice to see if the intervention can prevent sudden-onset, severe knee injuries in football players.

Participants will:

Either receive weekly information and motivation on effective injury prevention training or continue their usual football practice for 14 weeks.

All will receive a weekly text message with a survey link to report any sudden-onset knee injuries among their players for 18 weeks.

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Coach or manager at Danish amateur football teams at levels from under 14 (U14) years to senior teams.
2. Minimum 18 years of age.
3. Access to a mobile phone and computer.

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Limited Danish language skills, which prevents full understanding of the provided material and questionnaires.
2. Affiliation to teams playing under a license ranking by the Danish Football Association where training by a physical trainer is required according to the license criteria of the Danish Football Association).
3. Affiliation solely with old boys'/girls' teams (where the players have to be aged 32 and 29 , respectively, in the current season ).