Faculty of Sports and Exercise Medicine (RCPI & RCSI) · Sports and Exercise Medicine
Sports Medicine Ireland: Training on Hold
Sports injuries, musculoskeletal care and exercise in health and chronic disease. Irish higher training is on hold while the Faculty and Medical Council review the programme.
Duration: Training is on hold; future two-year and four-year routes remain provisional.
Applications: Recruitment is on hold. The Faculty’s October 2025 notice says July 2028 is the earliest anticipated next recruitment; this is not a confirmed opening or start date.
Entry: No current intake. The Faculty is reviewing a two-year route for doctors with specialist registration and a four-year route after medicine BST or CSTEM. These are provisional proposals, subject to the programme review.
Exams: Earlier programme guidance required the FSEM UK Membership examination Parts 1 and 2. Requirements for a future intake must be confirmed after the review.
Work in sports and exercise medicine
Sports and exercise physicians assess musculoskeletal injuries, support safe participation in sport and prescribe exercise for health and long-term conditions. Work can involve clinics, rehabilitation, team care and medical planning for sporting events, alongside physiotherapists and other specialists.
Current Irish training position
The Faculty's training notice, dated October 2025, states that recruitment is on hold during a review with the Medical Council. It anticipates July 2028 at the earliest. This is an estimate, not an announced application window or guaranteed programme restart.
The Faculty is considering two routes: two years for doctors already on a recognised specialist register, and four years after General Internal Medicine BST or Core Specialist Training in Emergency Medicine. Overseas qualifications would require the relevant specialist registration or equivalence assessment. These conditions are explicitly provisional; they do not establish present eligibility for an open competition.
Preparing while recruitment is paused
Read the Faculty's current notice before relying on older curricula, selection tables or examination requirements. The earlier scheme required FSEM UK Membership Parts 1 and 2, but a future intake may have revised rules. A sports medicine diploma or master's degree is not, by itself, Irish specialist registration.
How selection is scored
No active recruitment competition. Earlier published selection material should not be read as confirmed criteria for a future intake; the programme and proposed entry routes are under review.
Where you train
Future rotations have not been confirmed in the reviewed restart notice.
Where this leads
The previous programme led to CSCST in Sports and Exercise Medicine. A future programme and its entry/completion requirements remain subject to review.
Entry and selection guidance checked 26 October 2026.
Facts last verified 2026-10-26.
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