ABSTRACT
Injuries have a significant impact in elite soccer. They affect team preparation and performance, affect career trajectories and are a substantial economic burden to professional clubs. In this chapter, strategies to reduce the risk of injuries will be discussed, and a framework to develop a holistic system to reduce the incidence, severity and burden of injuries is presented. The chapter focuses on injury history, screening and monitoring, exercise programmes and their scheduling, fatigue, load monitoring, and the development of operational frameworks within sports science and medicine departments. The relevant research underpinning each of these topic areas is synthesised, with insights and practical examples provided from elite soccer practitioners.
