17 February 2020 – The Medical Department of the South African Football Association (SAFA) has taken a decision to update and upgrade their player medical forms required for a footballer to participate in any football related activity.
The move comes in light of growing medical conditions, global climate change and newly discovered illness that can have severe impact on the lives of a football player.
SAFA Chief Medical Officer, Dr Thulani Ngwenya, has implemented this much needed change and believes that it is in the best interest of the players to adhere to the new requirements, where they furnish the medical practitioners with more information, compared to before.
“The world of modern football is highly demanding on the body of footballers, and, as a Member Associate of the Confederation of African Footbal (CAF,) we have studied global trends and have taken a decision that more information is needed for us as medical practitioners to be able to perform our duties with excellence,” said Dr Ngwenya.
“Over the past few years we have found more and more players falling ill due to heart conditions, concussions and even neurological conditions, which has resulted in too many players having to retire from football at a young age. We need to combat this and ensure that we have adequate medical data about individuals to better react to possible medical emergencies.”