Covid-19 and Professional Football
Elite footballers also suffer at the hands of the pandemic
The British Premier League has been particularly hard hit by Covid-19 with 18 matches being called off in total due to outbreaks among players, the latest of which being the Southampton vs. Newcastle fixture originally scheduled for 2nd January
The British Premier League has been particularly hard hit by Covid-19 with 18 matches being called off in total
Officially, Premier League rules only allow for postponement if a team has fewer than 14 players available for a fixture (Goal.com), although the league said in a statement that it would also consider additional factors when Covid was involved. There are similar rules in other European leagues
There’s a perception around high infection rates among professional athletes, For example, the infection rate in the Italian Serie A was almost 2,500 per 100,000 players in the summer 2020, more than 5x higher than the national average.
However, this is in part due to strict & regular testing, and despite 98% of Serie A players being vaccinated (according to Football Italia).
Analysis of Germany and Italy’s top leagues (by Fischer, Schmal and Reade) also show how players don’t immediately return to peak performance, despite being younger and more active the the general public:
- Across these two leagues, 18% of players had caught Covid-19 by July 2021 (when this analysis was conducted)
- Footballers played 9% fewer minutes during matches after having contracted the virus
- Even 5 months after infection, players were making 4 passes fewer per game than their pre-infection average (a typical player makes 45 passes per game)
Source: Sky Sports; The Economist; Fischer, Schmal and Reade; FootballItalia.net; Goal.com
