Key result
Professional football player status is linked to a ~116% higher COVID-19 risk versus staff.
Why the study?
Little is known about the risk and incidence of COVID-19 infection among professional football players.
What is the incidence and risk of COVID-19 infection among elite football players compared to staff members?
Cohort (n=900)
Yes
What is the incidence and risk of COVID-19 infection among elite football players compared to staff members?
Relative Risk: 2.16 (95% CI 1.59–2.93)
Absolute Event Rate: 0.57% vs 0.27%
p-value: p=< 0.001
Elite football players have a higher risk of COVID-19 infection compared to staff members, but weekly RT-PCR testing is effective in breaking transmission chains.
Warrants caution in high-contact athletic settings; leaves open whether player-specific factors drive transmission beyond routine testing.
Little is known about the risk of COVID-19 infection among footballers. We aimed to investigate the incidence and characteristics of COVID-19 infection among footballers. In total, 480 football players of Super League Greece and 420 staff members participated in a prospective cohort study, which took place from May 2020 to May 2021. Nasopharyngeal swabs were collected from footballers and staff members weekly. All samples (n = 43,975) collected were tested using the reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test for the detection of “SARS-CoV-2”. In total, 190 positive cases (130 among professional football players and 60 among staff) were recorded. Out of the 190 cases that turned positive, 64 (34%) cases were considered as symptomatic, and 126 (66%) cases were asymptomatic. The incidence rate of a positive test result for footballers was 0.57% (confidence interval (CI) 0.48−0.68%) and for staff members it was 0.27% (CI 0.20%, 0.34%), respectively. Footballers recorded a twofold increased risk of COVID-19 infection in comparison to staff members (relative risk = 2.16; 95% CI = 1.59−2.93; p-value < 0.001). No significant transmission events were observed during the follow-up period. We found a low incidence of COVID-19 infection among professional footballers over a long follow-up period. Furthermore, the implementation of a weekly diagnostic testing (RT-PCR) was critical to break the transmission chain of COVID-19, especially among asymptomatic football players and staff members.
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Papagiannis et al. (2022) conducted a cohort in COVID-19 (n=900). Professional football player status vs. Staff members was evaluated on Incidence of a positive COVID-19 test result (RR 2.16, 95% CI 1.59-2.93, p=< 0.001). Professional football players had a twofold increased risk of COVID-19 infection compared to staff members (RR 2.16; 95% CI 1.59-2.93; p<0.001).
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