Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tears are very common in sports, and accounts for a great number of athletic knee injuries. The injury rate is increasing from year to year, creating a long period of inactivity for athletes. It can be career ending and "return to sport" period takes almost a year. Purpose:The purpose is to overview the latest information about the most common ACL injury mechanisms in sports, the biomechanical and other risk factors that can increase the risk of ACL injury, and to review what does "return to sport" exactly mean and to summarize the best preventive measures. Methods: This systemic review was performed using PubMed search engine by searching specific keywords about ACL injury and team sports, the scientific articles were published from January 2015 to August 2021. Non-English articles were excluded. Results: A total of 25 sources and 2 books were included, summarized, and divided into 4 topics: anatomy, epidemiology (subdivided into injury mechanism, biomechanical and other risk factors), "return to sport" (RTS) and prevention. It was found that most often the injury mechanism is "non-contact", occurs more during competition compered to practice, female athletes are at greater risk and that RTS criteria must be assessed individually. Conclusion: The best preventive measures include improving the technique of sports specific athletic movements (jumps, landing & cutting motions), involving proprioceptive & neuromuscular training exercises and by strengthening muscles of the leg.
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