Elite football on artificial turf versus natural grass: Movement patterns, technical standards, and player impressions

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to examine the movement patterns, ball skills, and the impressions of Swedish elite football players during competitive games on artificial turf and natural grass. Time - motion analyses (36 observations) and technical analyses (16 team observations) were performed and 72 male and 21 female players completed a questionnaire. No differences were observed between artificial turf and natural grass in terms of total distance covered (mean 10.19 km, s = 0.19 vs. 10.33 km, s = 0.23), high-intensity running (1.86 km, s = 0.10 vs. 1.87 km, s = 0.14), number of sprints (21, s = 1 vs. 22, s = 2), standing tackles (10, s = 1 vs. 11, s = 1) or headers per game (8, s = 1 vs. 8, s = 1), whereas there were fewer sliding tackles (P < 0.05) on artificial turf than natural grass (2.1, s = 0.5 vs. 4.3, s = 0.6). There were more short passes (218, s = 14 vs. 167, s = 12) and midfield-to-midfield passes (148, s = 11 vs. 107, s = 8) (both P < 0.05) on artificial turf than natural grass. On a scale of 0-10, where 0 = "better than", 5 = "equal to", and 10 = "worse than", the male players reported a negative overall impression (8.3, s = 0.2), poorer ball control (7.3, s = 0.3), and greater physical effort (7.2, s = 0.2) on artificial turf than natural grass. In conclusion, the running activities and technical standard were similar during games on artificial turf and natural grass. However, fewer sliding tackles and more short passes were performed during games on artificial turf. The observed change in playing style could partly explain the male players' negative impression of artificial turf.

The influence of natural grass surface hardness on path changes, locomotive movements and game events in soccer: a case study

“…Thus more pronounced differences may be found in future research comparing performances on surfaces with greater differences in terms of hardness. In summary, the findings support previous research where the surface hardness of natural grass has been found to influence soccer player's performance in terms of their technical and turn frequencies and time spent performing locomotive movements (Andersson et al, 2008;Potthast et al, 2010) although further research is needed to investigate the physiological and biomechanical responses when surface hardness changes.…”

“…The study aimed to compare soccer performances on surfaces of contrasting hardness and provides evidence suggesting natural grass surface hardness has an impact on game activity and locomotive movements in soccer which concurs with previous findings (Andersson et al, 2008;Potthast et al, 2010). The frequency of high intensity shuffling was significantly greater on softer grass when compared to harder grass (p<0.05).…”

“…Match characteristics and outcomes are affected by surface type and hardness (Baker et al, 2001;Fernandez et al, 2006;Andersson et al, 2008;Stiles et al, 2009;Potthast et al, 2010;Poirier et al, 2011) and subtle changes in surface characteristics may affect a player's locomotive movements, potentially disturbing their technical skills during competition (Dixon et al, 2000).…”

The effects of ball possession status on physical and technical indicators during the 2014 FIFA World Cup Finals

“…Although it's important to remain pragmatic, as match running performance is complex as factors such as context (Castellano, Blanco-Villasenor, & Alvarez, 2011), technical level (Rampinini, Impellizzeri, Castagna, Coutts, & Wisloff, 2009), formation (Bradley et al, 2011), the opponent (Rampinini, Coutts, Castagna, Sassi, & Impellizzeri, 2007), seasonal period (Rampinini et al, 2007), fatigue/pacing (Bradley & Noakes, 2013), surface (Andersson, Ekblom, & Krustrup, 2008) and the environment (Mohr, Nybo, Grantham, & Racinais, 2012), all interact and impact on match running performances. Another factor thought to impact on the physical demands of match play is team BP.…”

“…Most research has explored the physical (Di Salvo, Gregson, Atkinson, Tordoff, & Drust, 2009) and technical requirements of match-play in isolation (Collet, 2013) but few studies have integrated these facets of match-play to gain a more holistic understanding of soccer performance (Andersson, Ekblom & Krustrup, 2008). This is especially important given that team success is multifactorial (Van Winckel et al, 2014).…”