This Toronto surgeon says he has seen a sudden rise in soccer injuries. Is the World Cup to blame?

Dr. Sagar Desai said he has seen more soccer injuries this past week than he has in the last few years combined amid the World Cup.

Soccer has taken hold of Toronto since the 2026 FIFA World Cup started, but fans are doing more than just watching matches in the stands or crowded around televisions with friends: they are picking the sport back up.

One orthopedic surgeon in the city says that he has seen a dramatic rise in soccer injuries as a result.

Dr. Sagar Desai said he has seen a general rise in Achilles-related injuries in his practice over the last five years, once averaging one to three surgeries per week to sometimes five to 10 patients per week.

But this past week was unique as he said he repaired six Achilles injuries at Humber River Hospital in one day: though he clarifies not all were from soccer.

To showcase the abrupt spike, the orthopedic surgeon shared a video to Instagram revealing how many Achilles ruptures he had to treat that day.

“This is what happens when the World Cup comes to Canada. Everyone starts playing soccer,” Desai said in the video posted Thursday.

More often than not, the patients Desai treats who come in with those injuries are either younger athletes playing basketball or football, or older athletes playing pickleball.

When the orthopedic surgeon spoke with CTV News on Thursday, he said he had seen a noticeable increase in soccer-related injuries over the last couple of weeks — when the World Cup tournament started in full force.

“Soccer, I’d say, is relatively rare to see Achilles injuries. I’ve seen a couple here and there, but not a huge part of my practice,” Desai said.

“That’s why this past week was a bit of an interesting one, where all of a sudden, I saw about 10 or 11 ruptures … which is not uncommon for me, but the demographic was interesting.”

The demographic primarily being patients in their late 20s to 30s, who are picking up a soccer ball and playing games with their friends amid World Cup excitement.

“I probably saw more soccer injuries this week than I had in the last few years combined,” Desai said.

Achilles ruptures in sports

Achilles ruptures are typically seen in sports like basketball because of the frequency with which players use “push off” motions during games.

Desai pointed to Kevin Durant’s injury in Game 5 of the 2019 NBA Finals in Toronto, when the former Golden State Warrior ruptured his right Achilles tendon after being sidelined for nearly a month with a strained right calf.

“The classic pushing off to go to the basket, your leg extends, you’re contracting your calf muscle as your Achilles stretched out. Very classic injury,” Dr. Desai said.

The push-off motion is also consistently seen on a pickleball court. In contrast, there aren’t as many push-off events during a soccer match.

For one, soccer players cover a larger distance on the field compared to the confines of a basketball or pickleball court.

“They’re running, they’re backpedalling, they’re going side-to-side,” Desai said. “They’re not just pushing off every single play.”

Typically, Desai says the most common injuries seen in soccer are tears to the ACL, which is a key ligament that supports the knee joints.

While Desai has seen an uptick in soccer-related injuries, it is hard to say if these injuries are sweeping across the city since the start of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

In a statement to CTV News, a spokesperson for the University Health Network said it “hasn’t seen an increase in soccer playing or soccer watching injuries in the (emergency departments) since the World Cup started.”

A doctor’s orders

Before throwing on some cleats and kicking the ball around on the field, Desai urges people to first take the proper precautions.

“If you haven’t played soccer in 10 years, or five years, or two years: proper warm up, hydrate before you play, a really good stretch,” Desai advised. “You’re not going to eliminate the risk of injury, by definition you’re not, but at least the best you can is to minimize the risk by taking those precautions.”