The SoccHealth Study is NAKO’s research project on the health status of former professional footballers in cooperation with the German Football Association, the German Football League, the German Employers’ Liability Insurance Association and the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. The initial interim results six months after the official launch are positive – despite coronavirus restrictions and increased hygiene and safety measures.
By the end of September, over 170 former professionals aged between 40 and 69 had registered as study participants, including 27 women. This means that more than 1/3 of the subjects to be recruited have already been reached. The series of examinations and interviews lasting several hours have already been carried out with 107 of them at one of the NAKO study centres. 58 of these 107 have also taken part in the whole-body MRI examination.
In contrast to the German National Cohort (NAKO), for whose participants the study centre at their place of residence is decisive, the former professionals can decide for themselves at which location or study centre they would like to be examined. In the popularity ranking to date, the Essen study centre (with 30 examinations) is in the lead, followed by Mannheim (21) and Augsburg (19). In all three centres, the former professionals can also take part in a whole-body magnetic resonance imaging scan.