Staying Safe on the Pitch: Preventing Common Football Injuries

The first half of 2026 has been an exciting time for football. Arsenal won the Premier League for the first time in 22 years and the Fifa World Cup gave us a month of nail-biting matches with unprecedented results. Now, with barely enough time to catch our breath after Spain’s 1-0 final victory over Argentina, the Premier League season has kicked off once again.

Football is an intense, high-impact sport in which professional players can cover between 8-14km in a single match. Like any high-impact sport, it comes with its fair share of injuries. These largely occur in the lower body, with hamstring strains, ACL tears and lateral ankle sprains being among the most common.

Whether you find yourself returning to the pitch this season or lacing up your boots for the first time, here is what you should know about these common injuries and how you can prevent them. 

An efficient warm-up is essential for injury prevention. Whether you’re playing a short 5-aside game or a full-length match, you should give yourself enough time to prepare your mind and muscles for the activity ahead. Start with some light jogging and then move on to dynamic warm ups like side shuffles, high knees and carioca exercises. 

In football, hamstring injuries have always been prevalent but are now being recorded at an increasing rate. A 2020 study found that professional football clubs record an average of 10 hamstring injuries per season with high risk of reinjury when players return. According to Ultra Sports’ senior physiotherapist James Olasunkanmi, this increase can be attributed to the volume of matches. 

These strains are often caused by sprinting, sudden stops and accelerations, and quick changes in direction. Focused conditioning of one’s hamstrings is the most effective way of preventing injury. This can include increasing hamstring stamina through sprint training and must include eccentric hamstring strengthening exercises, with the Nordic hamstring exercise proving to be the most beneficial. 

ACL tears can be caused by quick changes in direction, similar to hamstring injuries, and sudden impact with hard surfaces or other players. Female players are at a greater risk of this injury so should take extra precautions. Strengthening exercises to protect one’s ACL should focus on core, hip and thigh muscles. Exercises that increase flexibility in the hips and ankles can also be highly beneficial in preventing awkward landings and leg movements. 

Like other common injuries, ankle sprains are also caused by the sudden directional changes, high-impact nature of the sport and unpredictable landings. Who can forget the sight of Neymar’s ankle after an awkward landing in 2023? To prevent these nasty injuries, work ankle stability exercises into your training. These can include calf raises, single-leg stands and arch raises. 

These injuries impact players broadly but Olasunkanmi recommends that players become familiar with the injuries associated with the position that they play. Different positions will place more or less strain on certain areas and it will help you to know what strength training you should focus on. 

For all positions, Olasunkanmi stresses the importance of multidirectional strength training. This will help you build stability across your sagittal, frontal and traverse planes which can help decrease your chance of injury. 

With your hamstrings a little bit stronger and your ankles a little bit safer, it's time to hit the field yourself and finish each game injury free.