It started with a few doctors wanting a game of football after work. More than 50 years later, their idea has become an international championship bringing physicians together from around the world.

Imagine finishing your hospital shift and heading straight to football training.

It's 1973.

You're a doctor working at Vall d'Hebron Hospital in Barcelona.

You've spent the day treating patients, managing clinical problems and doing what doctors do.

But it's Wednesday afternoon, and you've got somewhere important to be.

Not a meeting. Not another ward round.

Football.

A group of doctors have started meeting to play together.

No international ambitions. No World Cup trophy. No grand sporting organisation.

Just doctors who love football.

One of them is a pulmonologist named Dr Ferran Morell.

And although he doesn't know it yet, he's helping create something extraordinary.

More than half a century later, doctors from across the world are still following the path he started.

Welcome to the remarkable history of the World Medical Football Championship.

1973: A football team called Galens

Dr Morell helped establish Galens Vall d'Hebron, a football team made up of doctors from the Barcelona hospital.

The name Galens referenced Galen, the ancient physician whose name became associated with the medical profession.

At first, they played local amateur football.

Then they joined organised competitions.

They weren't professional footballers. They were working doctors who wanted to keep playing the sport they loved.

But the team developed something arguably more valuable than footballing success.

Friendships.

Doctors who might otherwise spend their working lives in different departments were suddenly teammates.

And when you're trying to defend a corner against a particularly enthusiastic opponent, your hospital job title doesn't count for much.

The problem: Not everyone was actually a doctor!

As Galens began travelling to international medical sporting events from 1978 onwards, they discovered a rather amusing problem.

Some of the opposition weren't doctors.

Imagine arriving at an international medical football tournament, expecting to face a team of tired consultants and registrars, only to discover the opposition contains suspiciously talented footballers who appear to have considerably more time to train.

Not ideal.

The Galens team wanted a competition where everyone genuinely shared two things: a medical qualification and a passion for football.

• So they decided to create their own.
• And they would take eligibility seriously.

1995: The first World Medical Football Championship

In 1995, Dr Ferran Morell and Galens organised the first World Medical Football Championship in Barcelona.

This was the beginning of the modern championship.

Doctors from different countries came together to compete, exchange medical knowledge and form friendships.

And in a wonderful sporting twist, Slovenia won the inaugural tournament.

The hosts had created a World Cup.

But someone else took home the first title.

The competition remained in Barcelona for its first ten editions, from 1995 to 2004.

During that period, the event developed into something more than an annual football competition.

It combined sport with scientific exchange, professional connections and international friendships.

The scientific symposium became a recognised part of the championship.

So doctors could spend one part of the week discussing medicine and another trying to nutmeg an orthopaedic surgeon.

That's a conference format I can get behind.

The half-time medical examination

Here's one of my favourite details from the tournament's history.

According to a published interview with Dr Morell, organisers became so concerned about non-doctors entering competitions that they introduced an unusual eligibility check.

At half-time, captains could select opposition players to answer medical questions.

Imagine the scene.

• You've spent 45 minutes chasing a Brazilian striker around the pitch.
• You're exhausted, dehydrated and desperate for an orange slice.
• Then someone hands you a medical examination.

'Before you get back out there, Doctor, we'd just like to check something.'

It might be the only football tournament where your clinical knowledge is as important as your first touch.

The historical account describes the system as a way of discouraging ineligible players. It doesn't establish that the same procedure will be used in Costa Rica in 2026.

Still, what a story.

From Barcelona to the world

After ten editions in Barcelona, the championship began travelling internationally.

Rio de Janeiro hosted in 2005, followed by Mainz in Germany in 2006.

Australia joined the hosting history when the tournament arrived on the Gold Coast in 2007.

And the event continued expanding.

A significant change came in 2006, when the competition adopted a more FIFA-style national-team structure and rotating host countries.

The tournament also developed categories allowing doctors to continue competing as they got older.

• In 2014, the Masters competition for players over 45 was introduced.
• In 2019, a competition for players over 60 followed.

Which is fantastic.

Because there's something rather inspiring about a 60-year-old physician still travelling overseas to represent their country at football.

Although I suspect the recovery sessions become increasingly important.