A couple of times I’ve seen an injured player carted off the field in the World Cup games.
The stretcher looks like a plastic orange box. I’ve never seen a stretcher like that. Is it common in soccer?
Don’t know the answer to that, but this stretcher seems to be a clever design. I remember watching an old sports blooper reel in which the medical staff who were carrying an injured player used an old-style stretcher and they dropped the poor guy.
Treating an injured player on the field used to be more of an issue in football (soccer) in the past when medical staff would often treat an injured player on the field for minutes on end, thus delaying the match. These days, a player who needs medical attention has to be moved off the field as soon as possible. Sometimes, this makes an injury appear to be more serious or dramatic than it actually is (unlike the Neymar injury which was really horrible).
Soccer fields are large, so maybe a smaller, lighter stretcher provides a real advantage. I’m not sure about the dimensions of the fields in Brazil, but at the highest level I think they’re longer and wider than NFL fields - so medical personnel might have to carry those things (and the players) kind of a long way.
It helps avoid some of these types of mishaps.
Those basket stretchers (Google “rescue litter”) have been used for a long time in rescue. You’ll see those orange plastic ones or a metal basket style used in helicopter rescues where the patient is injured, not mobile, and/or needs to remain immobilized. There’s an insert for cervical immobilization as well as straps to secure the person into it for air lifting. Someone in sports finally figured out they’re a good idea on the stadium field as well as “in the field.”