Zacharias (Zachi) Flore, a PhD student in Sport and Exercise Science and Sports Therapy at Kent’s School of Natural Sciences has joined women’s football team, SKN St Pölten, as Head of Medical and Rehabilitation.
Flore is working both as Head of the Medical and Rehabilitation Department and as a sports physiotherapist and rehabilitator in daily practice with the team.
SKN St Pölten is one of the leading teams in Austrian women’s football, competing in the Champions League alongside other major European women’s football clubs like Arsenal, Chelsea, Barcelona and Lyon. Flore brings over 10 years of experience in professional men’s football to the club, where he has been tasked with setting up a new medical and rehabilitation infrastructure, strengthening the medical department. He has previously worked as physiotherapist and head of rehabilitation service for German clubs (Werder Bremen, Hamburger SV, 1. FC Magdeburg) in his career prior to and alongside studying his PhD.
Flore’s PhD focuses on the rehabilitation of lateral ankle sprains. Through working with many athletes in his career he recognised the lack of criteria-based rehabilitation protocols in place and developed his own algorithm for the rehabilitation of lateral ankle sprains. To develop this algorithm for use in professional clubs he began testing its effectiveness on a large scale through his PhD. Lateral ankle sprain (LAS) is one of the most common types of injury in professional footballers, with a high risk of recurrence. A criteria-based rehabilitation program can manage rehabilitation and get an athlete back on the pitch as safely as possible, rather than as quickly as possible. He hopes to continue developing his algorithm in his new role and to introduce the protocol into women’s football.
In his first professional role in women’s football, Flore is already noticing differences in injury types and recovery times compared to men’s football. There is an increasing demand in women’s football in recent years and therefore a bigger need for more professional medical care due to increasing load tolerances on muscles and match schedules. There are also differences in the hormone systems between men and women, and different tissues which affect injury recovery.
Zachi Flore said: ‘I am delighted to have been appointed as Head of the Medical and Rehabilitation Department for SKN St Pölten, bringing all of my passion for football and experience into this new role. The team has made me feel so welcome and living in Vienna for this new challenge is a dream. I really hope my PhD research can bring a difference to SKN St Pölten too, as part of the rehabilitation development at the club.’
Flore will complete his PhD at Kent at the end of 2025 and is supported by his supervisors Dr Kyra De Coninck (Lecturer of Sports and Exercise Sciences at Kent) and Dr Karen Hambly (now an honorary senior lecturer at Kent). Alongside his role at SKN St Pölten and his PhD studies, Zachi provides guest lectures and seminars for sports physiotherapy students globally.
Zachi Flore in a physiotherapy session with SKN St Pölten player