Revealed: Footballers suffered a RECORD number of injuries across Europe's top five leagues last season - amid growing player dissent over fixture congestion

• Manchester United and Newcastle were two of the worse-hit English clubs 
• On average, a league club experienced a player injury every 94 mins of football 
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A record number of injuries were suffered last season across Europe’s top five leagues, a new report has revealed amid growing concerns over fixture congestion.

In total, 4,123 injuries were recorded across Europe during the 2023-24 campaign, a 4 per cent increase on the previous season, with the Premier League accounting for 44 per cent of those injuries.

The overall number of injuries suffered by Premier League players, however, fell by three per cent compared to the previous season according to data from the Men’s European Football Injury Index, a study produced by global insurance group Howden.

On average, a Premier League club experienced an injury to a player every 94 minutes of competitive football.

The Premier League clubs hit worst by the injury crisis were Newcastle and Manchester United, who suffered 76 and 75 injuries respectively across the course of the season. Only Crystal Palace (42) and Wolves (32) recorded below the league average number of injuries.

The cost of injuries suffered by Premier League players to their clubs was an eye-watering £266million, a figure calculated by multiplying the daily base salary of the injured player by the number of days they were unavailable due to injury. That number is well above the European average owing to the ever-increasing inflation of wages in English football.

James Burrows, Head of Sport at Howden, said: ‘The 2023-24 Howden Men’s European Football Injury Index underscores the ever-increasing physical demands on players.

‘As fixture congestion intensifies with expanded competitions domestically and internationally, we are seeing more players sidelined for longer periods, with a notable 5% rise in injury costs this season alone.’