Citation

Iacobucci G. BMJ 2022; 379: o2818.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2022, BMJ Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1136/bmj.o2818

PMID

36414264

Abstract

The brain injury charity Headway has condemned the decision to allow Iran's goalkeeper, Alireza Beiranvand, to continue playing after clashing heads with a team mate in the country's World Cup match against England as an "utter disgrace."

In the first half of the match on 21 November Beiranvand collided with his outfield team mate Majid Hosseini, which led to the goalkeeper needing treatment from the Iran national team's medical staff for several minutes on the pitch.

Beiranvand was permitted to carry on despite appearing disoriented, before being substituted a few minutes later after turf signalling to the bench that he needed to come off.

After a similar incident in the English Premier League last month Luke Griggs, Headway's interim chief executive, said that stubbornness at the highest level of football was putting players' health at risk. He called for temporary substitutes to be introduced as soon as a player …

Language: en