Player health surveillance in football: a global map of programmes in national and international leagues and tournaments

This study aimed to identify player health surveillance activities globally across international tournaments, national leagues, and national tournaments in any age group and sex, and to describe the programmes' stage, type of health data collected, methodological references, data management technology, and stakeholder involvement. A cross-sectional observational study was performed, using an online survey distributed between February 2024 and March 2025, and a snowball recruitment. The survey targeted stakeholders involved in data collection, management, or research in player health surveillance in football. Responses were obtained from 138 national leagues in 53 countries across all six confederations. Of these, 49 (36%) reported ongoing surveillance programmes, including 19 in women's and 30 in men's football. Another 15 (11%) programmes in the planning phase were reported. Surveillance was also identified in 15 international tournaments in five confederations. Most programmes had been conducted for more than one season (51, 80%), 33 (52%) collected illness data, and 11 (17%) included mental health problems. Consensus-based methodology was reported by 41 (64%) programmes, and 11 (17%) used sport-specific data platforms. Among national leagues, 29 (59%) reported to partner with another organization to implement surveillance (e.g. collect, analyse, and/or report data), compared to five (36%) programmes in international tournaments. This first global overview of player health surveillance in leagues and tournaments showed that ongoing programmes are concentrated in a few countries, unevenly distributed across confederations, and higher in men's competitions compared to women's, though surveillance has been planned in several women's leagues.