• Marian Eberl, Luana F Tanaka, Stefanie J Klug, and Henning E Adamek.
• Chair of Epidemiology, Department of Sport and Health Sciences, Technical University of Munich; Department of Medicine 2, Leverkusen Hospital.
• Dtsch Arztebl Int. 2019 Oct 25; 116 (43): 721-728.

BackgroundFootball training can be a primary prevention strategy to reach people who otherwise would not be physically active. This systematic review summarizes the evidence on the health effects of controlled recreational football training as an intervention in children, adolescents, adults and the elderly.MethodsA systematic review (PROSPERO record CRD42018083665) of the literature was carried out in MEDLINE, Cochrane, Scopus, and SPORTDiscus databases to identify randomized and non-randomized intervention studies in which healthy individuals of any age participated in controlled football training and were investigated for health outcomes related to prevention of obesity, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and cardiovascular disease.ResultsThe studies included-14 randomized and three non-randomized intervention studies-have sample sizes too small for reliable statistical analysis and bear a considerable risk of systematic bias. The evidence of positive effects of playing football is limited to short-term loss of body fat and improvement in aerobic fitness. For all other health outcomes, no conclusive results were found.ConclusionA considerable number of intervention studies reporting on football-based intervention programs have been published, and there is a widespread assumption that such programs have positive health effects. However, this systematic review shows that the empirical evidence is insufficient to permit such a conclusion.

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