A scientific overview of the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on sports affairs: a systematic review

Abstract

Background and Study Aim. COVID-19 pandemic has impacted all spheres of human life. This study presents the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on sports activities and the life of sportsmen. It is analysed the inter-connected themes for identifying research trends and motifs from the published studies between March 2020 to March 2021. Material and Methods. With the assistance of the UTM library for accessing online databases and electronic resources of Scopus, Web of Science, and ScienceDirect a rigorous search for published collecting data on the impact of COVID-19 on the sports participation and sportsmen was carried out. 650 studies retrieved from the reputable online database of Web of Science, ScienceDirect, and Scopus. 32 studies of which are matched with the criteria for analyzing through NVIVO-12 and Vos Viewer software. For selecting the articles most relevant to the objectives of this study, the principles of Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) were followed. Results. The results show that the COVID-19 pandemic mostly influences making constraints on physical activities. The mental and physical life were concurrently impacted by it. Bibliometrics analysis for key-word and term co-occurrence indicates that the research trend of COVID-19 and its impact was mainly focused on COVID-19 and Mental health or physical health or economic life of the stakeholders of sports affairs. Conclusions. This study has some implications for the athletes for maintaining a healthy life and for the authority of managing impacts, and researchers researching with new dimensions.