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Minerva Academy FC emerge as frontrunners in AFC’s injury & illness prevention research!

The Elite Leagues Injury and Illness Surveillance Program was an extensive research recently carried out by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) on injuries and their prevention. AFC took this initiative to provide the involved clubs with a detailed analysis of injuries to their players and help them with its prevention in the future.

Minerva Academy Football Club is the only Indian club to participate in this survey and recently received their report by the AFC on the same, and they were adjudged to be miles ahead of everybody else.

The research by the AFC was based on training exposure, match exposure, injury, illness, the onset of injury, and injury burden. In all aspects, Minerva Academy Football Club shone brightly.

In terms of total injury rate (injuries per 1,000 hours), the AFC total injury rate was 5.3 in 2019 and 6.3 in 2020. Compared to that, Minerva Academy recorded a rate of just 3.2 and 3.4 respectively. Apart from the fact that Minerva’s numbers were less in isolation, it is notable how the AFC total injury rate went up by 1 between 2019 and 2020, while Minerva’s numbers saw only a marginal increase of 0.2.

The total injury burden (days absence per 1,000 hours) read 94 and 115.9 for the AFC in 2019 and 2020 respectively, while it was only 21.7 in 2019 and 25.9 in 2020 for Minerva Academy.

As for training injury rate (injuries per 1,000 hours), AFC recorded 3.6 in 2019 and 3.9 in 2020, but Minerva’s numbers were 3 and 2.8 in 2019 and 2020 respectively. Minerva Academy’s statistics here are especially impressive, considering how common training ground injuries are in football. However, with the appropriate infrastructure and coaching, training ground injuries can be kept under tabs, as proven by Minerva Academy.

As for training injury burden (days absence per 1,000 hours), Minerva Academy stood at 10.7 as against AFC’s 49 in 2019, and 9.7 compared to 77.6 in 2020.

Moving on to match injury rate (injuries per 1,000 hours), Minerva Academy were at a mere 6 compared to 18.2 for AFC in 2019, and 10.2 as against 24.2 in 2020. Match injuries, like training ground injuries, are expected to be high in a contact sport, but Minerva Academy’s low rate in this statistic is a direct reflection of the fitness of their players, which is a testament to the club’s training, nutrition, and recovery protocols.

As for match injury burden (days absence per 1,000 hours), Minerva Academy stood at 146.6 as against AFC’s 450.9 in 2019, and 200.7 compared to 406.1 in 2020.

In terms of severity, Minerva Academy’s injury percentage in 2020 was 16.7% as compared to AFC’s 46.8% for moderate injuries, while it was 8.3% compared to AFC’s 15.3% for severe injuries.
In the illness data statistics (illness per 1,000 hours), Minerva Academy stood at 1.1 compared to AFC’s 1.5 in 2020.

In terms of exposure, Minerva Academy’s average was almost three times the average of other AFC clubs, which makes these statistics even more impressive.

Minerva Academy are the only residential academy in India that have a fully equipped physiotherapy and rehab centre, a 4000 square foot gym, hydrotherapy and cryotherapy pool, game recovery and massage therapy rooms. To add to the infrastructure and facilities, the club boasts a team of 20 physiotherapists, multiple fitness trainers and coaches, who work together to make sure the fitness levels of the players are maintained at all times.

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