Injury prevention in youth football (soccer): a comprehensive description of the development process of the ‘FUNBALL’ programme

Many football injury prevention programmes (IPPs) have been developed to target various injuries and populations. There was no specific IPP for youth players in place before. However, several existing IPPs designed for adults were also assessed in the youth population. All the existing ones face the challenge of long-term adherence even though efficacy has been demonstrated for many weeks to seasons. The main barriers to a successful long-term implementation of IPPs are time constraints and the lack of attractiveness for the players as they do not contain football-specific and motivating exercises. Increasing its attractiveness was the main aspect of designing the programme. To achieve this, a new approach was used. The 'FUNBALL' programme includes competitive, pair-based exercises and frequent ball use. It offers more flexibility as there is a choice between two different exercises for each category. It was developed through close collaboration between the research community, closely involved in real-life football, and the end-users. Tailoring IPPs to the preferences of end-users could mean a significant advancement on long-term adherence compared with previous programmes. However, further research is needed to assess this assumption.