The 2021-2022 season had 20 percent more injuries in the 5 major European football competitions than the season before. That brought the clubs an unprecedented cost of 610 million euros, according to a study by the British insurance group Howden. PSG in particular, which missed Neymar and Sergio Ramos for a long time, among others, had to dig deep into their pockets.
Just as fears of injury from the overcrowded football calendar are at their peak, British insurance group Howden notes the huge increase in injuries from last season.
The research was limited to the competitions of the 5 largest football countries: England, Spain, Italy, France and Germany.
Premier League most injuries, PSG most costs
The total cost for the clubs: a record amount of 610 million euros.
Howden arrived at that sum by calculating: multiply the number of days a player is unavailable for all injuries by the daily costs of a club to that player.
The Premier League saw the most money flow away: 219 million euros. It was therefore the most injury-prone competition with 1,231 injuries (compared to 938 in ’20-21′). Chelsea had the most casualties with 97 cases, while Manchester United had the most costs.
La Liga follows in second place with 130 million euros, while the Spanish league with Real Madrid (40.3 million euros for the greatest number of injuries: 114) and FC Barcelona (33.2 million euros) 2 teams in the top 3 has of clubs that had to cough up the most.
The club that lost the most money to injuries was PSG. His injured football players cost the French champions 40.7 million euros. Neymar was sidelined for 110 days last season, Sergio Ramos was out of action for almost a full season and the other star players, such as Messi and Veratti, were not spared either.
Hazard is the most famous injury case at Real Madrid, which topped the list last season with 114 cases.
The busy calendar as a motor
The busy calendar takes its toll, it seems.
With the Nations League, UEFA has provided extra international matches. In a season where the impact of Covid was even greater (matches postponed, players in quarantine or sick,…) the matches followed each other in quick succession.
And it promises to get worse: by planning a World Cup in the middle of the season, the football players’ work schedule is overcrowded. European matches are now quickly following each other, cup matches have to be played, the competitions have started earlier, international matches, … The players hardly have any rest.
The FIFPRO, the players’ union, therefore asks for the workload to be reduced again. It wants FIFA to have a rest period of at least four weeks between two seasons and another of at least two weeks during the season.
