Minimum Medical Requirements for UEFA matches and tournaments

In its continuous attempts to protect the health of everyone involved in UEFA matches, the UEFA Medical Committee defined minimum medical requirements (MMR) for players, team officials, referee teams and match officers at matches and tournaments which entered into force at the start of the 2012/13 season. These requirements are contained in the UEFA Medical Regulations and are designed to provide a minimum standard of equipment and medical services to deal with accidents at matches which might threaten lives or cause permanent injury.

The host club or national association is required to provide a minimum level of medical service in four key areas:

• Pitchside medical equipment (e.g. defibrillator, spinal board, resuscitation equipment)

• Ambulance (which must be an Advanced Life Support Ambulance)

• Medical staff (including a dedicated pitchside doctor and stretcher team)

• Emergency medical room equipment (equipped with emergency drugs and medical materials)

Furthermore, the host must submit its stadium medical plan to the visiting team(s) in advance of the match or tournament stating such points as emergency evacuation routes, the contact details of the host team medical officials and the contact details of local hospitals.

The MMR requirements are designed to ensure a standardised minimum service across UEFA competitions and to ensure that travelling teams and their medical staff can be sure that a certain standard will be provided regardless of the country in which the matches are played. Medical equipment is inspected by the UEFA match delegate on the day before matchday during the official Matchday-1 training session (where applicable to the competition) and again on matchday. Clubs and associations who fail to meet MMR requirements are referred to the UEFA Control and Disciplinary Body for non-compliances.

The MMR are reviewed by the UEFA Medical Committee each year to ensure that the medical needs of players and officials can be met with the least possible burden on clubs and associations in providing equipment and services. Flexibility is also built into requirements where possible to allow for local variations, such as the different brands of emergency drugs that may exist in different countries.

In addition to the MMR, UEFA also requires the hosts of its final tournaments to provide a full tournament medical service which includes the production of a comprehensive medical services concept containing additional information on hospitals, imaging facilities and dental services, procedures for obtaining prescriptions and immunization requirements for the host country.

UEFA publishes guides to the provision of MMR in seven languages, all of which are available to download from UEFA.org.