Examining the key performance indicators of all-star players and winning teams in elite futsal

Abstract

Purpose: to identify the key performance indicators that discriminate all-star from non-all-star players; and to differentiate winning from drawing/losing teams during the Euro Cup 2018 Futsal (Slovenia). Methods: the sample consisted of all matches (n = 20) played by 12 teams (87 players). Differences between both players and teams were calculated using the Mann-Whitney U and student-t tests and the binary logistic regression (assessing the relationship between all-star players or winning teams and several match-and contextually based variables). Results: minutes per match, goals, assists, ball recoveries, % shots on target, % key pass accuracy, and % challenges won discriminated all-star from non-all-star players. However, only minutes per match (OR: 1.329), goals (OR: 13.547), and ball recoveries (OR: 2.136) per time played were determined to differentiate all-star players. Regarding the team analysis, the following variables discriminated winning from losing/drawing teams: goals, assists, % counterattack success, and % set pieces success. However, only goals (OR: 2.035) and % set piece success (OR: 1.076) predicted the match outcome. Conclusions: the current findings can help coaches to a better understanding of which key performance indicators are important out of all data available, contributing to defining priorities when training and managing competition in elite futsal.

Physiological and Anthropometric Determinants of Performance Levels in Professional Futsal

“…As such, the recent findings by Portuguese and Spanish authors ( Santos et al, 2020 ) who investigated key performance indicators that discriminated all-star from non-all-star players during the Euro Cup 2018 Futsal (Slovenia) confirm the relevance of differentiating physical capacities (i.e., kicking speed, futsal-specific agility, and reactive strength) between starters and non-starters in this study. In brief, those authors found that all-star players had greater numbers for key pass accuracy and assists and achieved a higher number of goals with a better rate of shots on target during the matches.…”

“…This observation can be explained by the adopted sports-specific movement (i.e., running, acceleration, and deceleration) technique that includes lowering of the center of gravity, shorter strides, a sideways leaning posture toward the intended direction, and proper foot placement ( Haugen et al, 2014 ). All of these factors together allow the lower-body muscles to apply sufficient and optimal lateral force to the ground, which in turn enables players to maintain balance and efficiently perform futsal-specific tasks that include many rapid changes of direction both with and without the ball ( Haugen et al, 2014 ; Caetano et al, 2015 ; Santos et al, 2020 ). These observations together indicate that differences between the studied performance-levels are more closely related to (i) specific futsal skills and (ii) reactive strength, which enables players to efficiently execute futsal-specific movements, as already suggested ( Sekulic et al, 2019 ).…”

“…To outperform their opponents, futsal players must have not only excellent ball handling technique and anaerobic and aerobic endurance but also a high level of explosive power (e.g., kicking and running speed) and agility capacity. These capacities are especially crucial in defense to offense transitions when ball recovery requires both skillful players who understand the game and players who can predict the opponents’ action and can rapidly react by executing sprinting at the right moment and in the right direction, which in turn can enable ball recovery and create a scoring situation ( Correa et al, 2014 ; Santos et al, 2020 ).…”

Construction and validation of an observation tool of the imbalance pass in futsal

“…The pass is a collective action that requires tactical action adjusted to the context, based on the spatiotemporal relationship with the teammates and the projection of the ball into that space in view of the time available with the appropriate biomechanics 3 . However, in addition to the biomechanical aspects, the accuracy of the pass is essential to enhance relations with teammates considering the position of opponents [2][3][4] . In fact, in unpredictable sports, right and wrong depend on the context played at that time and the objective achieved.…”

“…Notwithstanding that, in order to promote significant advances and unbalances, it is necessary to overcome defensive lines to cause defensive readjustments and even space-time unbalances in defense in relation to the attack, and according to Santos et al 4 , which directly contributes to a finalization situation, thus facilitating a goal-scoring opportunity. This type of pass is known as the imbalance pass (a pass that leaves the defense partially or totally destabilized/unbalanced, which contribute directly to a finishing situation, numerical advantage in the construction process, spatial advantage in a 1x1 situation, and may facilitate the chance of scoring a goal), being an indicator of the performance of elite athletes 4 .…”