Introduction: Football is a high intensity sport where the risk of injury is high. In order to reduce the incidence of injuries, especially to the lower limb, FIFA has developed the FIFA 11+ prevention program. The trainer's role in introducing the prevention program into the training process is one of the key factors for their consistent and successful implementation, so their opinion on the topic of prevention is important. Purpose: The purpose of the work is to determine the knowledge and use of the FIFA 11+ preventive program and other preventive programs among football coaches in Slovenia. The purpose is also to investigate whether there is a statistically significant connection between knowledge of the program and gender of the coached team and the variables knowledge of the program and education level of coaches. Methods: We collected data in March and April 2023 with the help of an anonymous online survey, which we sent via e-mail to active football coaches in Slovenia. The results were analyzed by comparing percentage values and using statistical tests on the 1ka portal. The connection between the knowledge of the program and the gender of the coached team and the knowledge of the program and the level of coaching competence was analyzed with the HI-square test, where the level of statistical significance was set at p ˂ 0.05. Results: Seventy-two individuals (twenty-seven coaches of woman’s teams and forty-four coaches of men’s teams) responded to the survey, of which 61 coaches completed the whole questionnaire , and 11 partially completed it. The majority of coaches (54 %) were familiar with the program, of which more than half (52 %) implemented the program according to the recommendations (at least twice a week). We did not find a statistically significant connection between the gender of the coached team and knowledge of the program (χ2= 2.045, p= 0.153). A statistically significant connection was found (χ2= 11.490, p= 0.0198) between the variables knowledge of the program and the education level of coaches. Discussion and conclusion: Based on the results the NZS must strive for greater implementation of the program in reality through active changes in the education system of football coaches and the promotion of FIFA 11+. It is necessary to inform the coaches about the purpose of the program and emphasize the importance of correct and regular implementation of the preventive program. The sample of our research is too small to be able to generalize the findings to the entire population of football coaches in Slovenia, so it is necessary to collect a larger and more representative sample in future research.
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