The scene that summarizes the relationship between medicine and football is the doctor sitting outside the field during play next to the technical director, his assistants, and the reserve players… and other scenes that may be more important, but not many people see them, such as preventing players from injuries, treating them, and setting the date for their return to the stadiums… but the new scene now It belongs to the German Dr. Florian Pfab, Eintracht Frankfurt club doctor, for the past five years.
Dr. Florian will enter football history as the first doctor to be bought by one club from another club, just like football players and stars. The English club Brighton decided, a few days ago, to pay Eintracht Frankfurt two hundred thousand euros in exchange for dispensing with Dr. Florian so that he could join the Brighton club starting from The new season…and it is certainly a number that cannot be compared to what various clubs pay or receive in exchange for buying and selling players.
But it is a story that remains a first in the world of football.. Dr. Florian attracted the attention of many in Europe with his medical successes, which made Eintracht Frankfurt one of the lowest clubs in Europe in recent years, whose players are exposed to muscle injuries with the speed of the injured returning to the stadiums.. and he did not achieve this. Florian did this out of the blue… after studying medicine at the University of Munich and practicing academic medical work as a professor, then moving for a period of time as a visiting professor at Harvard University in the United States, in addition to his medical studies in orthopedics, sports medicine, nutrition, and dermatology.
Dr. Florian gained his football experience from working as a doctor for football clubs, the most important of which was Bayern Munich, before moving to Eintracht Frankfurt. Now Florian will join the list of the first doctors in the world of football, such as the Brazilian Socrates, the pediatrician, who was the first doctor to win the World Cup as a player. And Argentine Carlos Belardo, an obstetrician and gynecologist, who was the first doctor to win the World Cup as a coach.
In Egypt, there was Abdullah Shehata, the dentist, who was the first doctor to win the African Nations with the national team and to win with the “Arab Contractors” the African Cup Winners’ Championship and the Egyptian League as well. And the Spanish doctor Ferran Morell, who, despite his success in performing a thousand lung transplant surgeries, remained a football lover and convinced that doctors should not only treat players, but that they have the right to play as well.
Ferran kept dreaming and trying until he succeeded in establishing a World Cup for doctors only, which is held annually in different countries. Iceland was the first team in the history of the World Cup to participate in the 2018 finals and include six doctor players in its ranks. The most famous doctor who played football in Egypt was Ahmed. Abdullah, Ayman Zein, Ahmed Fawzi, Mohamed Khairy, and others in Egypt and the world.