Does player age influence match physical performance? A longitudinal four-season analysis in Spanish Soccer LaLiga
This study aims to analyse the evolution of match running performance in relation to the age distribution of professional soccer players using a large-scale analysis. An explorational-longitudinal and retrospective study was designed and a total of 36,883 individual match observations were collected...
| Autores: | , , , , , |
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| Tipo de recurso: | artículo |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2023 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | Universidad Católica de Valencia San Vicente Mártir |
| Repositorio: | RIUCV. Repositorio de la Universidad Católica de Valencia San Vicente Mártir |
| Idioma: | inglés |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:riucv.ucv.es:20.500.12466/3257 |
| Acceso en línea: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12466/3257 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | Age group Aging Football Longitudinal analysis Match running performance 2411.06 Fisiología del Ejercicio 32 Ciencias Médicas |
| Sumario: | This study aims to analyse the evolution of match running performance in relation to the age distribution of professional soccer players using a large-scale analysis. An explorational-longitudinal and retrospective study was designed and a total of 36,883 individual match observations were collected on outfield players competing across four consecutive Spanish LaLiga seasons (from 2015/16 to 2018/19), using an optical tracking system (ChyronHego). Soccer players were divided into 3 age groups: young (18–24 years old), middleaged (25–30 years old), and seniors (31–41 years old). Relative total distance (TD/min), distance covered at 21–24 km· h−1 (HIRD/min), and > 24 km· h−1 per minute (VHIRD/min) were analysed; also, the number of efforts at 21–24 km·h−1 (Sp21) and > 24 km·h−1 (Sp24) were taken into consideration. Seasons were divided into four phases (P): P1 (matches 1–10), P2 (11–19), P3 (20–29), and P4 (30–38). The results showed that young players covered significantly greater TD, HIRD and VHIRD than the rest of the players (p < .05) in all season phases. In addition, TD significantly decreased along season phases in all player age group (p < .01). Crucially, young players performed significantly greater numbers of Sp21 and Sp24 than the rest of the players (p < .05) in all season phases. In addition, Sp21 and SP24 significantly decreased in middle-aged (p < .01) and senior players (p < .05) across the seasons. This study demonstrated that players’ match running performance decreases with increasing years, especially in high-intensity running distances. |
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