Background: The available literature referring to the return to play (RTP) and performance after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR) has already been comprehensively summarized in team sports such as basketball or American Football. Therefore, in this sense, it is necessary to synthesize evidence relating to the mentioned parameters in soccer players who underwent ACLR. Objective: The aim of this systematic review was to examine RTP and the performance of soccer players after ACLR. Methods: Three electronic databases, Web of Science, Scopus, and PubMed, have been comprehensively searched to identify relevant articles. The following inclusion criteria were applied: (1) the sample of respondents consisted of soccer players irrespective of their age, sex, or level of competition; (2) athletes experienced anterior cruciate ligament injury and underwent ACLR; (3) outcomes estimated referred to the RTP, RTP at the preinjury level of competition, RTP time, performance, and career duration of soccer players; (4) studies were written in the English language. The methodological quality of the research was evaluated using the Methodological Index for Non-Randomized Studies (MINORS). Results: Databases searched yielded a total of 694 studies, of which 17 fulfilled the eligibility criteria and were included in the final analysis. These included 3657 soccer players, 2845 males and 812 females, who underwent ACLR and most commonly competed at the elite, national, amateur, and recreational levels. The results obtained indicated that 72% of soccer players successfully RTP and 53% RTP at the preinjury level of participation after ACLR. In addition, recent evidence provided in this literature review demonstrated that mean RTP time was 264 days or 8.7 months. Moreover, the majority of the studies unambiguously suggested that performance related to statistical aspects noticeably deteriorated compared with both the preinjury period and noninjured athletes. The mean career length of soccer players following ACL surgery was approximately between 4 and 5 years. Conclusion: Although a high percentage of athletes RTP after a relatively short period of absence from the sports field compared with other sports closely related to soccer, ACLR negatively impacts soccer players’ performance and career duration.

The purpose of this study was to describe anthropometric characteristics and body composition of elite soccer and basketball players as well as to make comparisons between them. Seventy-one males were enrolled in the study, divided into three groups: twenty-six soccer players, fourteen basketball players and thirty-one healthy sedentary subjects. All subjects were assessed for the anthropometric measures required for the calculation of body composition variables, using the standardized procedures recommended by established literature. Data was analyzed using SPSS and the descriptive statistics were expressed as a mean (SD) for each variable, while the ANOVA and LSD Post Hoc tests were carried out to detect the effects of each type of sport. The results showed there was no significant difference in body mass index among the groups, while a significant difference was found for body height and body weight as well as for all three of the body contents measured (muscle, bone and fat) among the groups. Basketball players were significantly taller and heavier than soccer players and the subjects of the control group, while there was also a significant difference between the weight of soccer players and the subjects of the control group, who were significantly heavier. The muscle and bone contents in the bodies of the subjects in the control group were significantly lower than that of all other subjects while there was no difference between soccer and basketball players. Lastly, the fat content in the body of the subjects in the control group was significantly higher than that of all of the other subjects, while there was no difference between soccer and basketball players. Therefore, these findings may give coaches from the region better working knowledge and suggest them to follow recent selection process methods and to be more careful during the recruitment.

This research tested the interactions among destination image, destination quality, sport event quality, and behavioral intentions in the context of small-scale sport events. The study included elite sambo athletes (N = 350) who participated in the World Sambo Championships, which were organized in Novi Sad (Serbia) in 2017 and 2018. The destination image was measured with the affective and cognitive dimensions, while the event quality was measured with the core, tangible and supporting dimensions. The results supported the measurement and structural models. They further indicated that the core aspect of the event quality directly influences participants’ behavioral intentions, while the destination quality partially mediates the relationship between destination image and participant behavioral intentions. The event quality was shown to have a direct relationship with the development of destination loyalty. The theoretical and applied value of these results are discussed.

Physical literacy (PL) is one of the main concepts related to lifelong physical activity (PA) and physical fitness (PF), but there is a lack of information on factors that might be associated with PL in adolescents from southeastern Europe. This study aimed to evaluate the associations between PF, participation and achievement in physical education (PE), out-of-school participation in sports, and PL in high school adolescents from Croatia. Participants were 298 high school students aged 14–18 years (191 females). Variables included school age, PE grade, sports participation, anthropometric indices, four PF tests, and PL (evidenced by CAPL-2-knowledge and understanding questionnaire (CAPL-2-KU) and PLAYself questionnaire). Gender-stratified analyses of differences were conducted using the t-test for independent samples or the Mann-Whitney test. Associations between variables were calculated with Pearson’s product moment correlation or Spearman’s rank order correlation. PF was positively correlated CAPL-2-KU in both genders. PE grade was significantly associated with PLAYself score (Pearson’s correlation = 0.36 and 0.38, p < 0.001 for boys and girls, respectively) but not with the CAPL-2-KU score. School age was not correlated with PL among boys, but there was a significant but negligible correlation between CAPL-2-KU and school age in girls (<2% of the common variance). Adolescents involved in sports had better PL and PF compared with adolescents not involved in sports. In conclusion, participation in out-of-school sports offers a good base for developing PL. Although this study took part over the COVID-19 pandemic period when the regular PE curriculum was significantly altered, the poor associations between school age and PL could lead to the assumption that the current PE curriculum does not allow for improvement of PL in later high school age, which warrants further investigation.

Demographic change is a fundamental characteristic of China’s demographic development. The primary problem in China’s population development has shifted in recent years from overall pressure to structural challenges. Using data from China’s seventh demographic census, this study examines the dynamics of sports consumption growth from the perspective of population structure, analyzes the characteristics of the current population structure and the current state of sports consumption development, and establishes a regression to examine the impact of population structure change trends on sports industry development. The study demonstrates that there are varying degrees of correlation between different demographic trends and the sports industry in China’s aging population: the added value per capita of the sports industry is significantly (p < 0.01), positively correlated with the proportion of the elderly population and the number of graduates from general higher education institutions. While the expansion of the sports sector continues to be positive, there are numerous issues that need to be addressed. To encourage the development of a high-quality sports industry, proactive countermeasures are proposed to adjust population policy, increase population quality, and promote the comprehensive upgrading of sports consumption.