While you can’t hand off players like in American Football.
Or even straight-up hit someone in a game, it is common for soccer players to get hurt.
I can recall so many times in my career where I have been hurt through playing the game.
Whether that be from accidentally over-stretching or through a bad tackle.
So in this post, I am going to take you through how often soccer players get hurt.
Explaining why it happens and how many players it affects.
Table of Contents
Do Soccer Players Actually Get Hurt?
Soccer players do actually get hurt, however sometimes while it looks like a player is in pain, it may not be the case.
This is because of something which is common in the game called playacting.
It is where players will either dive or make the most of a small tackle, exaggerating it in order to get a decision in the favour.
You will have times where a player is actually fouled in a game, but they will make it out to be worse than it is.
For instance, you might see someone trip up an opposing player.
The player’s reaction instead of just walking it off is to then roll around on the floor clutching his ankles.
It is why for spectators who are new to the sport, it can be hard for them to work out who is being genuine and who is actually hurt and in a lot of pain.
While there is a good chance some of them are genuine, it is important to know that some will make out their hurt to get someone booked.
As when a player goes down hurt, it can play in the referees mind and make them more likely to punish a player, when really it shouldn’t have any effect.
How Frequently Do Players Get Hurt?
In every game, players will get hurt frequently.
However how severe the pain is on the player will depend on how hard the challenge was.
With soccer though its always going to be a game, where players do get hurt.
It is simply just part of the game and because of its physical nature.
With constant 1 on 1 battles and challenges taking place, it is therefore bound to happen that players get hurt.
This is why over a season, every club will have a list of players who out injured.
Now how frequently a player/players get hurt in a game, can sometimes depend on a few factors.
As sometimes you can have games where its very clean with no one diving in.
While in other games, you have a player going down every odd minute due to challenges flying in.
The Tempo Of The Game
The tempo of the game can have a huge bearing on whether players get hurt or not.
If the game is end to end, there are two things that can happen:
- Players being brought down to end counter-attacks may be hurting them in the process
- Cramp and fatigue through running many km’s within a game
Starting with that first point, when a game is so stretched with the ball going end to end, players become desperate to stop dangerous attacks.
For example, if you have a midfielder bringing out the ball on the counter-attack, the opponent might take him down to stop it.
Of course, it would maybe end up with them getting a yellow card.
But from challenges like that the player would of been kicked or tripped up, leaving them hurt.
Normally when this happens the player gets straight back up, with them just running the pain off.
Another way tempo affects the frequency of people getting hurt in a game, is through the amount of running.
If you have watched the final minutes of a game you may have noticed that some players will go down clutching their calves.
This is because of cramps and fatigue which can cause pain and will happen when a soccer player has run several km’s.
The Rivalry
When you have your rivalry, it can lead to players getting hurt more frequently due to the adrenaline.
Games like Rangers vs Celtic and Manchester United vs Liverpool, are known for being very fiesty.
With players in previous fixtures not only getting hurt through shocking challenges but getting sent off.
Players love to let the opposition know in big derbies, that they are in a game, by leaving a foot in and going in tough.
So because of all of this, in these games players tend to get hurt more frequently than for instance an exhibition/friendly game.
Conclusion
Players will typically get hurt to variant severity’s during games, with some getting a knock but nothing major to stop them from carrying on.
While other players will end up more hurt then others, suffering injuries where they have to come off the field.
If you have any questions or comments feel free to drop them down below 🙂
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