Jan Ekstrand
Prof, Dr Med Jan Ekstrand has a background as an amateur football player and has a coaching education.
He was the team physician for the Swedish National Football team in 120 fixtures during 1980-1997.
He is a MD and a specialist in orthopaedic and general surgery and is Professor of Sports Medicine at the University of Linköping, Sweden. He is 1st Vice President of the Medical Committee of UEFA and a member of the Medical Committee of the Swedish Football Association. He is also a board member of the Swedish Society of Sports Medicine, President of the Swedish Society of Sports Traumatology and a member of the board at large in EFOST.
In his dissertation from 1982 (Football injuries and their prevention), Jan Ekstrand was the first to show in a randomized controlled trial that sport injuries were preventable (article published in AJSM 1983).
On behalf of UEFA and English Premiere League, Jan Ekstrand and his research group (FRG, Football Research Group) carries out research about football injuries and their prevention. The on-going study of UEFA Champions League teams started in 2001 and involves the best football clubs in Europe. The results has been published in around 30 articles during the last 10 years. More info about the UCL injury study can be found on www.uefa.com.