Injury risk is greater in physically mature versus biologically younger male soccer players from academies in different countries.

Objectives: To investigate if maturity status was associated with injury risk in male academy soccer players.

Design: Prospective cohort surveillance study.

Setting: Professional soccer academies.

Playing Position and the Injury Incidence Rate in Male Academy Soccer Players.

Context: Whether playing position influences injury in male academy soccer players (ASPs) is unclear.

Objective: To determine if playing position was associated with injury in ASPs.

Design: Descriptive epidemiology study.

The genetic association with injury risk in male academy soccer players depends on maturity status.

It is currently unknown if injury risk is associated with genetic variation in academy soccer players (ASP). We investigated whether nine candidate single nucleotide polymorphisms were associated (individually and in combination) with injury in ASP at different stages of maturation. Saliva samples and one season's injury records were collected from 402 Caucasian male ASP from England, Spain, Uruguay, and Brazil, whose maturity status was defined as pre- or post-peak height velocity (PHV).