Injury epidemiology of the Russian Premier League leading soccer team during the competitive seasons 2021–2022 and 2023–2024

Purpose of the study: to investigate the incidence, location and mechanism of various lower limb injuries in soccer players of a leading Russian Premier League team. Methods: the study participants were players of the main team of a leading soccer team of the Russian Premier League ( n = 43, age 23.8 ± 4.7 years, height — 182.5 ± 6.96 cm and body mass — 78.23 ± 7.8 kg), in which all time-loss injuries were recorded during three consecutive competitive seasons 2021/2022, 2022/2023 and 2023/2024. Injury data was recorded according to the International Olympic Committee consensus. Results: 153 time-loss injuries were recorded, resulting in 2060 days of absence. During the study period, 90.7 % of the players were injured and on average, there were 3.6 ± 2.8 injuries per player during the analysed period. The most frequent injury subtypes were muscle injury (53.6 %) as well as synovitis and joint effusion (17 %). Severe and moderate injuries represented 9.8% and 29.4 % accordingly. The most frequent injuries were localised in the thigh (33.3 %) and lower leg (17.6 %). The most frequent injuries sustained by soccer players during three consecutive competitive seasons were acute non-contact muscle injury (72 cases, 47.1 %). These injuries required 9.5 ± 10.7 days for treatment, and their recurrence was recorded in three cases (4.2 %). Conclusion: the most frequent injuries among adult professional Russian soccer players are acute non-contact muscle damage of the lower extremities. Furthermore, the number of recurrent injuries in the treatment of these injuries is significantly lower compared to their number in previously conducted studies involving adult professional soccer players.