Running economy in elite soccer and futsal players: differences among positions on the field

Abstract

OBJECTIVE:To determine running economy in a large sample of elite soccer and futsal players to obtain benchmarks in different positions. METHODS: Running Economy is the energy demand at a submaximal running velocity. Players were divided into 6 subgroups. Soccer: defenders, midfielders, and strikers; futsal: defenders, wingers, and pivots. Elite soccer players (n=129) and elite futsal players n=72 performed an incremental running test starting at 8.4 km.h -1 with increments of 1.2 km.h -1 every two minutes on a treadmill until exhaustion. Running Economy was determined by interpolation between ventilatory thresholds 1 and 2 (VT 1 and VT 2 ). RESULTS: Running Economy (measured as mL.kg , respectively. We no found significantly differences between the three positions in both sports. The

Body Composition and Determination of Somatotype of the Spanish Elite Female Futsal Players

“…It would be logical to think that the anthropometric results of these different modalities should be similar; however, each sport has its individual characteristics that make it unique. All of these sports share an endo-mesomorph somatotype; nevertheless, the BC and tactical position are important factors that determine the specific energy expenditure [27], capacity in sprints and aerobic/anaerobic performance and specific skills of the tactical position [28]. In rugby seven, there are no significant differences for BC; however, certain anthropometry characteristics, the height in this case, influence the tactical demarcation of players.…”

Characterising running economy and change of direction economy between soccer players of different playing positions, levels and sex

“…Although, effect sizes indicated a trend for midfielders having better ME than all other positions, which was especially observed for SRE 10 and when compared to centre backs (36.11 ± 2.7 vs. 39.3 ± 3.1 mmlO 2 / kg/min). To our knowledge, no other studies have compared scores of ME during shuttle run tests across different playing positions; however, during in-line running, midfielders have been previously reported to exhibit significant (Boone et al, 2014) or non-significant but moderate to large effects for better ME compared to centre backs (Nilsson & Cardinale, 2015a;Santos-Silva et al, 2017). The volume of running has been suggested to be a crucial factor for improving ME in athletes (Barnes & Kilding, 2015), and centre midfielders might develop better ME because of their greater running distances during matches (and likely training) than other position (Sarmento et al, 2014).…”

“…Studies quantifying ME in soccer have been limited to males and in‐line running assessments, and have produced conflicting results regarding the ability of ME to discriminate between playing positions, with two studies reporting a non‐significant trend of better ME in midfielders (Nilsson & Cardinale, 2015a; Santos‐Silva, Greve, & Pedrinelli, 2017), and one study observing significantly higher ME values for centre midfielders and wide‐field players compared to centre backs and strikers (Boone, Deprez, & Bourgois, 2014). The discriminant ability of ME also appears to be discordant between playing levels, with one study reporting better ME for first league professional players versus second league professional players; but no further differences between second league professional players and third league semi‐professional players (Ziogas et al, 2011).…”