Comparison of Measurements of External Load between Professional Soccer Players

Abstract

Background: The excessive and rapid increases in training load (TL) may be responsible for most non-contact injuries in soccer. This study’s aims were to describe, week(w)-by-week, the acute (AW), chronic (CW), acute:chronic workload ratio (wACWR), total distance (wTD), duration training (wDT), sprint total distance (wSTD), repeat sprint (wRS), and maximum speed (wMS) between starter and non-starter professional soccer players based on different periods (i.e., pre-, early-, mid-, and end-season) of a full-season (Persian Gulf Pro League, 2019–2020). Methods: Nineteen players were divided according to their starting status: starters (n = 10) or non-starters (n = 9). External workload was monitored for 43 weeks: pre- from w1–w4; early- from w5–w17; mid- from w18–w30, and end-season from w31–w43. Results: In starters, AW, CW, and wACWR were greater than non-starters (p < 0.05) throughout the periods of early- (CW, p ≤ 0.0001), mid- (AW, p = 0.008; CW, p ≤ 0.0001; wACWR, p = 0.043), or end-season (AW, p = 0.035; CW, p = 0.017; wACWR, p = 0.010). Starters had a greater wTD (p ≤ 0.0001), wSTD (p ≤ 0.0001 to 0.003), wDT (p ≤ 0.0001 to 0.023), wRS (p ≤ 0.0001 to 0.018), and wMS (p ≤ 0.0001) than non-starters during early-, mid-, and end-season. Conclusion: Starters experienced more CW and AW during the season than non-starters, which underlines the need to design tailored training programs accounting for the differences between playing status.

Does elite European match-play affect salivary immunoglobulin-A and cortisol in soccer players? The influence of playing status and match outcome

“…For instance, higher values for non-starting players were observed during training sessions completed on the day following match-day for total distance, high-speed running and sprint distance ( Martín-Garcia et al, 2018 ). Additionally, higher accumulated weekly loads of external load measures (e.g., total distance and sprint distance) were found for starters than non-starters ( Gholizadeh et al, 2022 ).…”

Load Monitoring and Its Relationship with Healthcare in Sports

“…Another study compared the external load between official and friendly matches and between the first and second halves of professional soccer players [ 14 ], while another analyzed differences among playing positions: whether playing home/away matches and if playing in the first or second part of the championship influence the external load of amateur soccer [ 15 ]. Moreover, external load was compared between starters and non-starters [ 16 ] and among the playing positions [ 17 ] of professional soccer players based on different parts of a full season. A sub-analysis of a specific type of training exercise (i.e., small-sided games) was performed to analyze the between-session and within-player variability of heart rates and external load of young male soccer players [ 18 ].…”