St. George’s Park's sports medical centre has become the first in England to receive the coveted FIFA F-MARC accreditation
The national football centre joins 36 elite facilities across the globe to be officially recognised as a FIFA Medical Centre of Excellence.
The FA was presented with the prestigious certificate by FIFA Chief Medical Officer, Jiri Dvorak, at a ceremony at St. George's Park on Monday. SGP joins renowned centres in New York, Munich, Cape Town and Qatar that have demonstrated ‘leadership in football medicine’.
"With the FIFA F-MARC accreditation, St. George’s will now have the opportunity to link with the remaining 36 medical centres around the world," said Dvorak.
“Football medicine and science has grown immeasurably over the last few years. The FA take great pride in playing its part. ”
Dr. Ian Beasley The FA’s Head of Medical Services
"So if there is a question coming from St. George’s, it can be analysed by the other centres as well. The F-MARC is really about becoming part of the global network of top institutions dealing with football medicine."
St. George’s Park Chairman, David Sheepshanks CBE, said: "This is fabulous news and just reward for the very high standards we have set at St. George’s Park. It is a richly deserved accolade for The FA’s own medical team led by Dr. Ian Beasley and Gary Lewin and our resident sports medicine team at St. George’s Park, part of Perform, Spire Healthcare, run by Phil Horton and Dr Charlotte Cowie.
“We have a world class facility here that provides a full array of services including everything from cardiac and health screening to performance analysis, nutrition, injury rehabilitation and clinical care pathways.
"Being accredited as a FIFA Medical Centre of Excellence admits us into an exclusive ‘world club’ amongst the best sports medical practitioners. It will enable us to interact, share ideas and research projects whilst helping us to learn from the very best exponents of sports medicine.”
The FA’s Head of Medical Services, Dr. Ian Beasley, added: “Gaining F-MARC accreditation has been a dream first conceived when St. George’s Park was still a building site. Football medicine and science has grown immeasurably over the last few years, and The FA take great pride in playing its part in this.
"The medical and science team at The FA see the F-MARC as a route to a close collaboration with the other 36 such centres around the world to promote excellence in football player care.
“Our relationship with Perform at St George’s Park is a big part of our plans for the future. Their support for the awarding of F-MARC to The FA medical and science department says much about their integrity and dedication as an organisation that has player and athlete care at its heart."
St. George’s Park Managing Director, Julie Harrington, said: “As soon as I had found out that FIFA had accepted us and were going to make us an accredited centre, there was the feeling of immense pride because there has been a huge amount of work put in to get us to this stage.
"Our partners at Perform, who run our sports science and medicine facilities, have worked extremely hard to show FIFA that we can add value to this community.
“Throughout our first year, they have logged all the different injuries, the rehabilitation programmes and the numbers of players we have brought through to show that we can bring not only quality data but a strong quantity of data to add to that pool.”
The news follows a recent event held at St. George’s Park where a FIFA 11+ workshop was held.
FIFA 11+ is an injury prevention programme, and over 80 coaches and sports physical therapists joined senior members of The FA’s medical team at the event, to practice and discuss the key aspects of the established prevention programme.
