The Cost of Injury: Catapult x 21st Club
Catapult has teamed up with 21st Club–a football intelligence agency trusted by many of the game’s leading clubs and organisations–to quantify the cost of injuries at the highest levels of the sport.
Injuries can be one of the most frustrating aspects of sport at any level. Not only can they be a major hindrance to individual athletes, but in elite sport they can bring significant costs in both financial and performance terms.
To better understand the cost of injury in football and highlight the importance of effective injury risk reduction processes, 21st Club has conducted a unique research project to shed light on the consequences of injuries in the professional game.
According to the research:
- The average cost of an injury during the 2018/19 Premier League season was an estimated £200k in fixed wages.
- Players missed a total of 18,230 days through injury in the Premier League last season.
- The average Premier League player missed 8% of the campaign with injury.
- According to 21st Club’s Player Ratings, Tottenham suffered the most key high-quality player injuries last season, with Erik Lamela, Harry Kane and Dele Alli all missing at least 30% of the season.
- A 10% increase in a club’s injured wage bill equates to roughly a point lost over the course of a season.