Football medicine courses

Every year, FIFA conducts a number of medical courses and workshops at tournaments and with our member associations to fulfil FIFA’s commitment to improving the level of football medicine and ensuring the best level of care for all players everywhere. The courses are aimed at informing medical representatives about the newest treatments for football-related injuries and best practices for injury prevention as well as transferring knowledge about tournament medical services and requirements.

FIFA instructor André Pedrinelli adds that, “these are wonderful FIFA initiatives to spread our ideas on how to take care of our players”.

A wide range of topics are covered, such as the role of the team doctor, minimum stadium medical requirements, injury prevention, pre-competition medical assessment, concussion, and anti-doping. Practical workshops are also held to focus on clinical examination techniques, case studies, injury prevention programmes, demonstrations and exercises, and injury assessment.

Emergency football medicine, including how to respond to a sudden cardiac arrests (SCA), is a particularly important topic. Participants are taught how to remove injured players from the field of play as well as how to manage neck injuries and handle concussion. SCA training includes spotting the signs of an SCA, emergency treatment steps as well as preventive measures with hands-on training of cardiopulmonary resuscitation and how to use a defibrillator. Click here for a full sample agenda.

In addition, participants are informed about the FIFA Diploma in Football Medicine, a free online course with 42 modules written by international experts and designed to help anyone learn how to diagnose and manage common football-related injuries and illnesses.

To learn more about FIFA medical courses, please email

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