According to a recent analysis, injuries cost Premier League clubs about £90 million in the first half of this season.
The cost of injuries to clubs across Europe’s big five leagues was calculated by multiplying the cost per day of a player based on their salary by the number of days they were unavailable due to injury, according to the Men’s European Football Injury Index, published by international insurance broker Howden.
Injuries in Premier League Clubs
The cost of injuries to English Premier League clubs was £89.82 million, the highest sum of any of the five major leagues. According to the Index, the Premier League had the most injuries (659) of any league, while the club with the greatest injury expenditures in Europe was Real Madrid, with €19.52 million (£16.2 million).
The current Spanish champions were ahead of Paris Saint-Germain (€16.79 million, £13.96 million) and Chelsea (€16.40 million, £13.63 million).
Gareth Bale, who has missed much of the first season due to ailments to his knee, calf, and back, as well as contracting coronavirus within four months, will be part of Madrid’s bill. Bayern Munich in Germany had the most injuries, with 60, followed by Chelsea on 55 and Juventus on 54 in Europe.
Injuries cost Ligue 1 clubs €32.4 million (£26.93 million) in the first half of the 2021-22 season, with only one club, Paris Saint-Germain, accounting for 52% of that total. While Ligue 1 spent an average of €1.62 million (£1.35 million) per club on injuries, PSG spent more than ten times that amount.
September was the EPL’s first full month of play, and it saw the most injuries, with 127 non-Covid-19 absences reported by clubs. It was also the most expensive month in terms of injury costs, with EPL clubs spending £20.41 million (€23.89 million).
This is much more than double what clubs invested in the first month of the 2020-21 season, which was £10.17 million (€11.90 million). LaLiga has had the most positive Covid-19 tests so far in the 2021-22 season, with 134, compared to just 66 in the same period last season.
About the Soft Tissue Injuries
Covid-related unavailability caused European clubs to spend €38.47m (slightly under £31million). As the extremely viral Omicron form spread worldwide, the five leagues reported 256 Covid-19 absenteeism in December and another 140 in January, according to the study.
The investment to clubs in the first half of this season was little over €10 million less than the total cost last season – €48.25 million (£40.11 million) – and represented an average cost of €390,000 (just over £324,000) per club.
Soft tissue injuries, on the other hand, accounted for 38% of all losses throughout the five leagues. Soft tissue injuries caused the biggest number of absences in Serie A, as well as the largest percentage when contrasted to all other exclusions — soft tissue injuries accounted for 49% of all player absences in the league.
In comparison to the same period last season, the first half of the 2021-22 season has experienced fewer soft tissue injuries. Soft tissue injuries have been on the decline in the Bundesliga, but they still cost clubs €13 million (£10.81 million) in the first half of the season.
The variation in injuries between the two years in January is a contributing factor. There were 32 injuries reported in the 2020-21 season, especially in comparison to only two in the 2021-22 season. This could be explained, at least in part, by this season’s long winter break, during which the players were allowed to take almost a full week off.
Read: Premier League referee Mike Dean will quit from his on-field officiating at the end of this season
