Surakshya Baral, Anil Regmi
Objectives: Football is the world’s most widely played sport, and knee injuries, particularly anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and meniscal injuries, represent a major cause of disability, time loss, and long-term joint morbidity. Although the scientific output on football-related knee injuries has expanded substantially, a quantitative synthesis of global research trends, influential contributors, and thematic evolution remains limited. This study aimed to map the global research landscape on football-related knee injuries from 2000 to 2025 using bibliometric methods. Materials and Methods: A Scopus-based bibliometric analysis was conducted on January 1, 2026. Publications from 2000 to 2025 were retrieved for football/soccer, knee, and injury-related ligamentous/meniscal keywords. Extracted variables included publication year, document type, journals, authors, institutions, countries, funding sources, citations, and author keywords. Network analyses (bibliometric coupling and keyword co-occurrence) were performed using VOSviewer. Results: A total of 3,338 documents were identified, accumulating 104,458 citations and an overall h-index of 148. Annual output increased from 33 publications in 2000 to 288 in 2025, with marked acceleration after 2010. Articles comprised 83.5% of documents. The American Journal of Sports Medicine was the leading journal (192 publications). The United States contributed the largest share (29.2%). Keyword mapping revealed dominant clusters centered on ACL injury, injury prevention, biomechanics, epidemiology, rehabilitation, and return-to-sport. Conclusion: Football-related knee injury research has grown rapidly over the past 25 years, led by high-impact sports medicine journals and institutions in North America and Europe. Research themes remain heavily ACL-focused, highlighting opportunities for expanded work on meniscal outcomes, long-term morbidity, and sex-specific injury pathways.