Football doctors seek concussion role after 2-day Zurich forum

A British Journal of Sports Medicine editorial published Friday, Oct. 9, said a two-day Head Injuries in Football Conference in Zurich on May 27-28, 2025, gathered elite football clinicians and player representatives.

Evidence grade: Claim (no study cited). The editorial concerns policy process, not a clinical trial, and says the forum focused on applying existing concussion guidance across clubs and leagues rather than drafting a new guideline.

The meeting drew physicians responsible for professional men’s and women’s teams, according to the editorial by Florent Aziri, Niko Mihic, Reto Huber and Malte Christian Claussen. Named clubs included Real Madrid, AS Monaco, AS Roma, Brighton & Hove Albion, New York City Football Club, Grasshoppers Club Zurich and FC Utrecht.

National-team representation included Swiss, Dutch and Belgian teams, the editorial said. Physiotherapists, clinical neurologists, neuroscientists, professional players and player-union representatives also took part.

The organisers invited speakers from Major League Baseball’s New York Yankees and the National Football League to discuss sideline concussion management in other elite sports, according to the editorial. The comparison was framed as a way to identify shared operational problems for football decision-makers.

The forum’s institutional framing matters because concussion decisions in elite sport are made under time pressure, competition demands and medical uncertainty. The editorial says the event was designed to surface practical experience from people involved in those decisions, including team physicians and players.

The meeting was convened by the Sports Doctors Network and the Swiss Association of Football Players, which is a member of Asociación Internacional de Futbolistas, the editorial said. It was not organised or financially supported by international sports federations, according to the authors.

The University of Zurich provided scientific support for programme development and for structuring and moderating discussions, the editorial said. Conference funding came mainly from participant registration fees, with support from ETS Diagnostics, the Sports Doctors Network and the Swiss Association of Football Players.

The editorial cannot show whether this participatory approach improves concussion diagnosis, return-to-play decisions or long-term brain health. It reports a meeting and its rationale, not injury rates, clinical outcomes or an evaluation of policy changes.

The article was not commissioned and was externally peer reviewed, according to BJSM. Claussen is listed as an associate editor of the journal; the authors declared no other competing interests.

Source: editorial, British Journal of Sports Medicine, Oct. 9, 2026.

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