There are 4,123 injuries in the football season 2023-2024 in the five main European men’s football leagues (England, Italy, Spain, Germany and France) with an increase of 4% compared to the previous season and an overall cost for club which reached 732.02 million euros (+5%). The continuous increase in accidents is highlighted by theHowden’s 2023/24 Men’s European Football Injury Indexfourth edition of the award-winning European men’s football injury report published today by Howden, Italy’s leading global insurance broker with 850 people across 26 offices.
The 2023-2024 season set new records both for the frequency of injuriesand for the associated costs. Over the last four seasons, clubs in the top five European men’s leagues have suffered a total of 14,292 injuries, with a significant burden of €2.3 billion.
The 2023-2024 Injury Index has been published by Howden against a backdrop of growing concern over match congestion, with several players in Europe recently raising the alarm over the increasing physical demands required and some threatening enforcement action. strike.
The replacement in our Serie A
After the sharp increase in 2021/22, the Serie A championship has seen a constant increase in the average of injuries. Only Fiorentina and Sassuolo seem to oppose this trend. The graph below also shows that AC Milan, Inter, Juventus and Roma suffered injuries at a higher rate than the league average in each season. Torino also falls into this category despite exiting in the second round of the Italian Cup in two of the four seasons. Napoli and Milan have suffered the highest number of injuries in Serie A (50). Napoli suffered injuries worth 100,000 euros. Juventus recorded 45 injuries, 26 fewer than in the 2022/23 season. In 2023/24 injuries cost almost half (10.16 million euros) compared to the previous season (19.34 million euros), but they still represent the highest expense item among Italian clubs.
Cagliari avoided relegation despite suffering the highest number of injuries (32) among the bottom five teams in the table, tied with relegated Salernitana. Verona incurred the lowest expenses for injuries (0.8 million euros).
Higher than average injury costs in the Premier League
The English Premier League has always had higher than average injury costs. Injury costs accounted for 44% of the total across the five leagues analysed, up from 42% in 2022/23. 915 injuries were recorded for a total cost of 318.8 million euros.
The frequency of injuries was particularly high, with clubs suffering an injury every 94 minutes of play, costing €3,698 per minute. Wolverhampton and Crystal Palace were the only Premier League teams playing in each of the previous four seasons to record below-average injury levels on each occasion. In contrast, Newcastle United, Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool have seen consistently above-average injury levels.
“The Howden Men’s European Football Injury Index 2023/24 highlights the increasing physical demands of players. As calendar congestion intensifies and national and international competitions expand, we are seeing more players forced to sit out for longer periods, resulting in a notable 5% increase in injury costs this season alone.” , he commented James BurrowsHead of Sport di Howden.
Federico CasiniCEO of the Howden Group in Italy, added that “the data captures the needs and risks of modern football, even in the Italian championship, with individual clubs having suffered up to 50 injuries in a season and costs of up to 10 million euros. I also want to highlight the alarm over the increasing severity of injuries to younger players in Serie A. We hope that the report’s data will serve as a valuable tool for players, clubs and governing bodies in their ongoing assessments. At Howden, we remain committed to supporting clubs and players by offering innovative insurance solutions and data-driven strategies to mitigate rising costs and injury rates.”
