Lifespan Perspective of Professional Footballers’ Health

From the last decade of the twentieth century, professional football has become a transnational global business in which financial profits are as important as sports successes (1). Being a full occupational category, professional football relies on a diversity of stakeholders including among others players, clubs, (inter)national governing bodies, sponsors and sport ministries (1). Despite the fact that professional footballers are workers i.e. employees in the eyes of the law, the World Footballers’ unio‎n (FIFPro) representing more than 65,000 professional footballers worldwide emphasizes that professional footballers should have the same (labor) rights as any employees in any occupational category and the same rights from one employer to another, especially when it comes to their health (2). Nevertheless, the most important stakeholders in professional football other than players’ unio‎ns, namely clubs i.e. employers and official football authorities, have been refraing from looking at the health of footballers in a lifespan perspective, neglecting relevant occupational and health statements as well as players’ needs.