Page 8 - Layout 1

ISAKOS and FIFA

ISAKOS and

FIFA–A Gold

Team

Luis A. Vargas, MD, PhD, USA

Moises Cohen, MD, PhD, BRAZIL

In May 2013, the first ever meeting between

FIFA’s Chief Medical Officer, Professor Jiri Dvorak, and
the Board of Directors of ISAKOS was held in Toronto
just hours before the kick off of the Pre-Course

ISAKOS & FIFA: Key Issues and Challenges in
Safety and Health in Soccer.
01
The meeting enabled both sides to exchange ideas
We realized that both have the same goals, focus on
for mutual cooperation in the near future and the
signing of an agreement to produce two important injury prevention and improving standards of care for
athletes worldwide with the aim of protecting players’
events. The first one to be held in Sao Paulo, Brazil
February 2014, and the second one in 2016 in health, working on globalization to bring knowledge
to communities, not yet well supported and preserve
the city of Lyon, during the 10th Biennial ISAKOS the level of excellence in the places where they were
Congress.
already present.
Another major project to be undertaken is a traveling
The idea of holding a course in partnership was
fellowship involving physicians from regions indicated submitted to FIFA Medical Board and the Program
by FIFA Board and the FIFA centers of excellence,
with the aim of disseminating and maintaining the Committee of ISAKOS and was immediately accepted
and supported by all.
FIFA/ISAKOS standard of excellence in areas which
have not yet been created. The possibility of using a At the 2013 ISAKOS Congress in Toronto, a football

single universal database in medicine and soccer was specific pre-course was successful, thanks to the
also discussed.
participation of several important people very well

FIFA has a design of medical care and surgeries for known in the football world, including some members
of the Medical Board of FIFA, such as Dr. Jiri Dvorak,
athletes in underserved areas, an important social
and humanitarian gesture.
FIFA Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Bert Mandelbaum and
physiotherapist Mario Bizzini, who conducted the
The two entities have in common among themselves program FIFA 11+.

the great global penetration, one spreading the
science of football and the other, the science of

medicine.

We believe it is a perfect partnership and certainly will
score many goals.

Just over a year ago, in conversation with Bert

Mandelbaun MD, DHL (Physician US. Soccer
Federation National Teams), we had the idea to
create something together involving ISAKOS and

FIFA, and the Congress in Toronto could be the first
step to start a very promising relationship.

01 Standing: Benno Ejnimann, Jon Karlsson,

Jõo Espregueira Mendes, Luis Vargas, Paulo Lobo,
Marc Safran, and Willem Van Der Merwe
Sitting: Philippe Neyrert, Jiri Dworak, Moiśs Cohen,
Mario Bizzini, and Masahiro Kurosaka

6 ISAKOS NEWSLETTER 2013: Volume II