Abstract
We aimed to analyze the number and type of contacts involving the risk of respiratory disease transmission during football match play. We analysed 50 matches from different playing levels. Two reviewers evaluated the contacts of all players in each match. We focused on between-player contacts, crowding, actions with potentially increased aerosol and droplet production and within-player hand-to-head contacts. We categorized the duels with direct contact into frontal and other ones and measured contact duration. The number of between-player contacts were similar between playing levels (median 28.3 [IQR 22.6, 33] contacts per player-hour). Frontal contacts summed up to 8% of all contacts. Contacts involving the head occurred less than once per player and match with none lasting longer than 3 s. Crowding included between two and six players and the duration was mostly less than 10 s. Aerosol and droplet producing activities were three to four times more frequent in adult compared to youth players. Our results suggest that the risk of respiratory pathogen transmission is low during football matches. This conclusion is based on the finding that most close contact situations are of short duration and on the fact that it is an outdoor sport.
Highlights
We aimed to analyze the number and type of contacts involving the risk of respiratory disease transmission during football match play
During a situation like the COVID-19 pandemic, it has become highly relevant to know whether the execution of team sports including football is associated with an increased risk of the transmission of respiratory pathogens
Our observational study on situations, which potentially bear the risk of transmission of respiratory pathogens, revealed that between-player contacts occur on average every 2 min with contacts to the head, frontal contacts or contacts lasting longer than 3 s being very rare
Summary
We aimed to analyze the number and type of contacts involving the risk of respiratory disease transmission during football match play. During a situation like the COVID-19 pandemic, it has become highly relevant to know whether the execution of team sports including football is associated with an increased risk of the transmission of respiratory pathogens It is unknown, whether the number and nature of physical contacts is of such a character that the risk of respiratory disease transmission is increased while playing football. Goncalves, Mendes, Folgado, Figueiredo, Travassos, Barros, Campos-Fernandes, Beckert and Brito[12] applied dynamic tracking analysis of one elite football match in order to evaluate the feasibility of this approach to estimate interpersonal contacts within 2 m zones These authors found only short interpersonal contact times while playing football
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