Almería reduced their injuries by 40,7% compared to the previous season
Head of medical services Diego Portugal argues that ‘the efforts and communication between everyone in the club is crucial’
UD Almería have reduced first-team injuries by 40,7% compared to the previous 2019/20 season, taking into account the first half of the last campaign and that of the current one. This is rather surprising, considering that the 2019/20 season took place when the coronavirus pandemic did not break out, while throughout this unprecedented season, not only matches have been coming thick and fast but also there have been rearranged games, training sessions and so on.
According to a research undertaken by FIFA, the normal thing for a 25-player squad during a season is to have approximately 50 injury blows (not including the Covid-19 protocol-related absences) that prevent a player from training or playing.
In the first half of the 2019/20 season, without a global pandemic and with 22 games in the fixture list (21 league commitments and 1 Spanish Copa del Rey tie), Almería had a total of 32 injuries. In the same period of 2020/21, over a new wave of the coronavirus pandemic and with 24 games played (21 league fixtures and 3 Spanish Cup ties), there were 19 crocked players. Recovery days taken by Rojiblancos have also been considerably reduced by 41,9%.
This research has been carried out by the UD Almería medical services and conducted by Physiotherapist Coordinator Cid Andrade. He argues that the reasons for this significant decrease are marked by different aspects: players profile, characteristics of the squad that enables putting two different teams in contention depending on their needs, the continuity of the head coaches in the driving seat (always the change of coach entails modifications in the training sessions), tailored training workloads provided to players, collective and individual injury prevention exercises, acquisition of new material for the physical activity thanks to the investment made by UD Almeria, daily assessments on how players are doing… without forgetting that the club counts on a nutritionist and a physiologist this season.
For this reason, head of UD Almería medical services Diego Portugal, underlines that ‘the positive gradual development that we’ve experienced is given by the efforts made by everyone in the club and the permanent internal communication that exists between medical services, coaching staff, players, management ... In addition, we’re 24/7 at the disposal of the footballers and this boosts confidence, something which is crucial.’