Abstract: Football is one of the most popular and physically demanding sports in the world, involving high-intensity activities such as running, kicking, jumping, twisting, and turning. These movements place players at considerable risk of injury. The present study aimed to examine the prevalence and types of injuries among Indian elite football players and to analyze injury patterns across different age groups. A descriptive retrospective research design was adopted for this study. The sample consisted of 1000 elite football players aged between 14 and 30 years from different clubs, universities, and state teams affiliated with the All India Football Federation. Data were collected through a self-developed football injury questionnaire modified from Singh (2012). The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and percentage analysis through SPSS software. The results indicated that muscle injuries were the most common (40.84%), followed by upper and lower back pain (24.92%), ligament injuries (15.33%), fractures (7.33%), and other injuries (10.67%). Similar trends were observed across different age groups, particularly among players aged 14–17 and 18–21 years, where muscle injuries and back pain were predominant. The findings suggest that muscle strain and back-related injuries are the most prevalent injuries among football players, highlighting the need for improved conditioning programs, injury prevention strategies, and proper training supervision.

Keywords: Football injuries, muscle injury, ligament injury, fracture, sports injury epidemiology, elite football players

Downloads: | DOI: 10.17148/IARJSET.2026.13265