DFL establishes “Medicine in Professional Football” working group
9 June 2022 – DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga has assembled a permanent committee of medical experts. The “Medicine in Professional Football” working group follows on from the “Sports Medicine / Special Match Operations Task Force”, which has closely monitored match operations since the start of the Coronavirus pandemic and is now being merged into the newly created working group.
From now on, the working group will be tasked with continuously monitoring and advising professional football from a medical perspective, in addition to the medical commission of the German Football Association (DFB). It will also focus on closely observing the ongoing development of the pandemic and the potential impact on match operations in the Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 – at present, the start of the 2022-23 season is planned without a central medical and hygiene-related concept. In addition, the working group will deal with various issues regarding prevention, medical developments in professional football, coordination and cooperation with the statutory insurance association for occupational accidents (VBG), and other projects such as support for the NAKO health study.
The working group is headed by Prof. Dr med. Tim Meyer (Medical Director of the Institute of Sports and Preventive Medicine at Saarland University and team doctor for the German national team), who also led the “Sports Medicine / Special Match Operations Task Force” over the last two years. The working group also comprises Prof. Dr med. Werner Krutsch (medical specialist for orthopaedics and trauma surgery; FIFA Medical Centre of Excellence, University Hospital Regensburg; team doctor for 1. FC Nürnberg) and Prof. Dr Karl-Heinz Bauer (Medical Director of Klinikum Westfalen, an academic teaching hospital of Ruhr University Bochum; team doctor for VfL Bochum 1848).
The working group’s cooperation will be closely assisted by the DFL departments Football Affairs & Supporters (Ansgar Schwenken) and Sport & Youth Development (Andreas Nagel). Where necessary, additional medical experts from various disciplines will also be consulted on specific issues.