The FA · free preview
Emergency Medical First Aid in Football (EMFAiF)
The intensive practical day that bridges first aid and the medical team: the full A–E survey, resuscitation as a team, the airway, catastrophic bleeding and shock, limb-threatening fractures, head and spine — and the handover.
£235 (from 1 August 2026; £225 before) · one day, face to face, practical and scenario-led · age 18+ · Introduction to First Aid and Emergency First Aid in Football first · one tutor to eight learners
Free lesson · Emergency action planning and working with the medical team
Emergency Medical First Aid in Football: the day, and who it is for
Emergency Medical First Aid in Football (EMFAiF) is The FA’s one-day course for the people who kneel beside the doctor or the physio when something goes badly wrong — and who may have to hold the scene alone until one arrives. It builds on the first aid you already hold and develops the more advanced skills of assisting medical staff in a pre-hospital emergency: a fuller assessment of the casualty, surer handling of the airway, bleeding, fractures and the spine, and a cleaner part in the team that resuscitates, packages and hands over a player.
| The real course | |
|---|---|
| Format | One day, face to face: a classroom course delivered by The FA at venues across the country, mixing practical exercises, theory, demonstrations and question-and-answer sessions |
| Cost | £235 for bookings from 1 August 2026 (£225 before). Older listings showed about £215, and county or provider events have ranged from roughly £150 to £250 |
| Entry | Age 18 or over. Introduction to First Aid in Football and Emergency First Aid in Football are recommended first — in practice, an in-date football first-aid award or an equivalent certificate |
| Who it is for | Training support staff: coaches, strength and conditioning coaches, sports-science practitioners, newly qualified doctors or therapists — and sports-therapy students and the support staff of academies and semi-professional clubs |
The official course page lists the day’s content in this order: emergency action planning; the primary A–E assessment; sudden cardiac arrest; Basic Life Support with use of the defibrillator; airway management; limb-threatening fractures; head and spinal injuries; and the medical emergencies specific to football. This course teaches the same ground in six modules, ending with the handover that closes every incident.
What changes from EFAiF. EFAiF trains the first-aider who is the only help on the touchline. EMFAiF assumes you will often work beside a clinician at a semi-professional club or in an academy, so it goes further into assessment — disability and exposure, the head-to-toe survey, observations and their trend — and into the jobs a clinician hands to a trained helper: holding the head, compressing while she manages the airway, splinting and packaging, moving a spinal casualty as one of the team, recording and handing over. It does not make you a clinician. Airway adjuncts, oxygen, medicines beyond a player’s own inhaler or auto-injector, and putting back a dislocation belong to the registered professionals on the courses above you.
Source: Touchline Logic note
The syllabus: 6 modules, 33 lessons
- 1
Emergency action planning and working with the medical team
- Emergency Medical First Aid in Football: the day, and who it is for free preview
- How the day is assessed, what it lets you do — and how the game stands in
- The ladder, and where first aid ends
- The emergency action plan when there is a medical team
- Match day with a medical team: the roles, the meeting, one clinical lead
- 2
The primary A–E and secondary survey
- <C>ABCDE: the order trauma kills in
- A and B: open it, hear it, then count it
- C: bleeding, skin, capillary refill — and why you never wait for the blood pressure
- D and E: the level of response, the pupils, the sugar — and the cold
- The secondary survey: head to toe, SAMPLE, observations and consent
- 3
Sudden cardiac arrest, Basic Life Support and the AED
- Who arrests, and why screening is not enough
- Recognition: the triad, the two traps and the non-contact collapse
- Basic Life Support: adult, child and infant
- The defibrillator, and resuscitating as a team
- The chain of survival — and after the return of life
- 4
Airway management, catastrophic bleeding and shock
- Airway management: what your hands do, and what the clinician’s kit does
- Choking: the effective cough, the silent cough and the special cases
- After a blow to the chest: the breathing emergencies
- Bleeding control: pressure, layers, and the bleeding you cannot see
- Catastrophic haemorrhage: first, on sight — and the tourniquet doctrine
- Shock: treat the cause, lie him flat, keep him warm, watch the trend
- 5
Limb-threatening fractures, head and spinal injuries
- Limb-threatening fractures: recognise, look below the break, call
- Immobilising and packaging: still, splinted as found, the right transport
- Spinal injury: when to suspect it, and holding the head
- Moving a spinal casualty: the roll, the scoop and the team
- Head injury: recognise, remove, escalate
- After the removal: the return to play, the young player and second impact
- 6
Medical emergencies in football and the handover
- Asthma: the reliever, the spacer and the silent chest
- Anaphylaxis: adrenaline first, flat, never standing
- Low sugar and seizures: think hypo, protect, time it
- Heat and cold: cool first, warm gently
- The handover: ATMIST in twenty seconds
- After the ambulance: the record, confidentiality, safeguarding and the debrief