"There are three other members of staff in the stadium with me," says Prof. Halle. "At the last group match, for example, they were my senior physicians Dr. Katrin Esefeld and Dr. Isabel Fegers-Wustrow, as well as the assistant physician Felix Stegmüller. At the same time, we also have a back-up at the University Hospital rechts der Isar, i.e. someone who can take over the coordination in the clinic. That was the resident Otto Zelger against Hungary." According to Prof. Halle, it is important that the axis between the stadium and the clinic functions. In the clinic, senior physicians would do background duty to optimize coordination in the clinic as well.

"This concept was necessary and proved to be effective because we immediately had a lot to do at the first game in Munich with the paraglider pilot from Greenpeace and the accident he caused," explains Prof. Halle. "Two people were hit in the head during the action and then had to be treated at Klinikum rechts der Isar. I was then still with the two in the emergency room at night. Overall, the logistics in this incident worked extremely well."

In addition to the players of the two teams, Prof. Halle, as CMO, and his staff are responsible for the entire teams, the members of UEFA and the VIP guests. The emergency medical team, which is located on the sidelines, in the stands and also in the VIP area, is established and in the arena for all Bundesliga or Champions League matches. It is supplemented by Prof. Halle's team, which acts on behalf of UEFA.

"There, too, you have to imagine that coaches or injured players, for example, don't know German, don't know the logistics in Munich and then seek medical advice," Prof. Halle said. "We have set up a small contact point in my department around the clock for this purpose. This is the coordination point from which we can then fall back on the Klinikum rechts der Isar and its diagnostics as well as therapy. For example, we also had a request from a team asking if we could perform an MRI, which we then quickly implemented."

In addition to the German team's group matches, Prof. Halle will also be at the stadium for the quarterfinals on Friday, July 2, 2021. That's when Italy and Belgium, who each prevailed in the round of 16, will meet.

"Except for the incident with the paraglider on the first match day, it was calm at the other two games," said the head of the Chair of Preventive and Rehabilitative Sports Medicine. "I would like to see the same for the quarterfinals!"

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Contact:

Prof. Dr. Martin Halle
Chair of Preventive and Rehabilitative Sports Medicine
Georg-Brauchle-Ring 56 (Campus C)
80992 München

phone: 089 289 24441
e-mail: sportmed(at)mri.tum.de

Text: Romy Schwaiger
Photos: Chair of Preventive and Rehabilitative Sports Medicine