Achoo! Soccer player's sneeze leads to an injury

Soccer players have suffered from all kinds of injuries. Son Heung-min suffered an injury while breaking up a table tennis argument earlier this year. Marco Asensio missed a Champions League game in 2017 because he infected a pimple on his leg while shaving. We can add a new method of injury to that list: sneezing.

Victor Adeboyejo, a striker for Bolton Wanderers FC, was not part of the squad during the side’s EFL Trophy contest against Barrow. Adeboyejo has been fighting a back injury that has traces back to previous contests. However, Bolton manager Ian Evatt said Adeboyejo exacerbated the injury with a sneeze on Monday afternoon. Before then, he was going to be a part of the squad.

“Victor has been suffering with a nasty back injury and a sneeze set it off yesterday (Monday) believe it or not,” Evatt said. “We have had it scanned and should have the results very soon, everyone remembers the challenge at Charlton, he was okay at the time. But then he had a pretty hefty sneeze – now Victor is a powerful boy and even his sneezes are powerful.”

Just how powerful is Adeboyejo? Evatt revealed that Adeboyejo felt a crack between his ribs when he released this all-powerful sneeze. Evatt and Bolton remain hopeful that this is just a small issue, but further scans on the issue will be able to tell more of what is going on.

With Adeboyejo sidelined, Bolton pulled off an exciting victory over Barrow on the road in the group-stage game from Tuesday. Three goals in 12 minutes in the second half overturned a halftime deficit to ensure Bolton picked up all three points. As a result, Bolton picked up a crucial three points to open the Bristol Street Motors Trophy.

Sneeze is latest bizarre injury to plague Bolton

Seeing Bolton have success in the EFL Trophy is not overly surprising. The club won the competition in the 2022/23 season and was in the quarterfinals of the tournament last year. Additionally, Bolton has qualified for the promotion playoffs in each of the last two seasons, coming up just short. Part of the reason for that not happening can be due to another bizarre injury.

While the sneeze and subsequent injury did not affect the side this season, Randell Williams tore a muscle in his foot the day before the playoff final against Oxford United. Another player who is currently out, Will Forrester, slipped on stairs and fractured several toes. Evatt admitted Adeboyejo’s injury seems standard for what he has had to deal with.

“I have to start having a long look at myself when players start getting injured sneezing,” he smiled. “That is just the way things seem to be going at the moment, but we have to deal with it.”

In total, Bolton was without 13 players because of injury and international duty during the EFL Trophy win on Tuesday. Fortunately for Bolton, the side does not play again until Sep. 14. That may give the side time to get at least a couple of players back from injury.

PHOTOS: IMAGO.