Johan Vásquez (right) from Mexico disputes the ball with Luis Javier Suárez from Colombia.
Photo: EFE – Carlos Ramírez
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The South American Football Confederation (Conmebol) presented its first analysis study on cases of concussion in footballers who participated in men's tournaments between 2022 and 2024, with a protocol to detect these injuries, reported this Sunday the president of the organization's Medical Commission, Osvaldo Pangrazio.
For three years, data was collected on injuries that occurred in 930 matches involving 5,928 players between 15 and 44 years old, Pangrazio told EFE, who highlighted as a “unique opportunity” having centralized all the information from official Conmebol matches in the Medical Commission.
“It is the first large-scale prospective study on concussion in South American football and demonstrates the effective implementation of a CONMEBOL protocol that identifies serious concussions on the field of play,” highlighted Pangrazio.
In total, 27 concussions were identified that required immediate removal from the playing field, of which 37.04% occurred between the 21st and 45th minutes of play and 60% affected visiting footballers, he detailed.
Additionally, Pangrazio stated that “2.6 concussions occurred per 1,000 hours.”
“Our study presents a culturally adapted concussion detection protocol implemented by CONMEBOL,” highlighted the head of the Medical Commission.
He explained that the Conmebol Rapid Concussion Recognition Protocol establishes that team doctors “have the obligation” to fill out a form after each match, “even if a concussion has not occurred.”
The study also observed that in the Copa Libertadores and Copa Sudamericana matches of the last three years the most frequent diagnoses were muscle contractures, with 121 cases, followed by muscle tears (45), ankle sprains (38), mild concussions (23) and knee sprains with involvement of the medial collateral ligament (23).
Pangrazio stressed that they identified “a variation in the incidence of injuries in cities located between 1,000 and 3,000 meters above sea level.”
The president of the Medical Commission also reported that Conmebol and UEFA carried out another study on the incidences and patterns of injuries recorded during the matches and training sessions of the Copa América and the Euro Cup in 2024.
In total, 85 injuries were recorded, which represented an incidence of 4 injuries per 1,000 hours of play or training.
The injury rate in the Copa América was 4.2 per 1,000 hours of play or training and in the Euro Cup it was 3.9 per 1,000 hours, but in the case of the European competition “the severity of the injuries was greater”, as players were recorded with more days out, Pangrazio said.
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