February 12 – The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has announced its Emergency Medicine & Anti-Doping Regional Course has concluded in Chennai, India after four days of technical training aimed at strengthening matchday medical preparedness across Asia.
Delivered in collaboration with the All India Football Federation (AIFF), the programme was hosted at the Sri Ramachandra Centre for Sports Science (SRCSS). The course was led by AFC Medical Committee Chairperson Dato’ Dr. Gurcharan Singh and SRCSS Director Professor Dr. Arumugam Sivaraman.
The four-day programme forms part of the AFC’s ongoing effort to standardise football medicine practices across its Member Associations, with an emphasis on readiness, prevention and regulatory alignment at elite and grassroots levels alike.
The AFC said that more than 45 medical professionals from MAs across the Central and South Region attended, with the objective of improving on-field response capabilities and aligning regional medical standards more closely with FIFA protocols.
Welcoming participants, Dr. Singh underlined the strategic importance of medical infrastructure to the Asian game. “Asia has a vision to bring the FIFA World Cup to Asia. Though training and practice are vital for players, sports science and medicine play an equally critical role in achieving this goal.
“Research data emerging from UEFA clearly shows that the regular top ten successful teams have more than 90 per cent of their players available both in training and matches at all times, demonstrating how important the health care of players is.”
The curriculum covered key emergency scenarios, including sudden cardiac arrest, concussion management, musculoskeletal trauma and structured player extraction protocols. Sessions also addressed the specific healthcare considerations of female players, reflecting the AFC’s broader development strategy.
On the regulatory side, participants received instruction on paperless anti-doping procedures using the MODOC software platform currently operated by FIFA and the AFC Anti-Doping Units. Additional lectures examined compliance requirements under the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Code.
Contact the writer of this story, Harry Ewing, at [email protected]