Impact of COVID-19 lockdown on professional soccer players’ match physical activities

Rampinini, Ermanno; Martin, Marco; Bosio, Andrea; Donghi, Federico; Carlomagno, Domenico; Riggio, Marco; Coutts, Aaron J.

doi:10.1080/24733938.2021.1995033

Cited by 13 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 53 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Notably, our study highlighted that the overall increase in sprint distance was achieved without spectators, which is contrary to the previous study that suggested sprinting, acceleration, and deceleration distances did not change or showed a clear reduction compared to playing with spectators in the most soccer leagues (Brito de Souza et al, 2021 ; Rampinini et al, 2021 ; Santana et al, 2021 ; García-calvo et al, 2022 ). A possible explanation is that ball possessions ended without realizing the pre-prepared tactical strategies, which caused the counterattacks from the opponent.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 99%

“…Our study is consistent with the previous study (Almeida and Leite, 2021 ; Rampinini et al, 2021 ; Santana et al, 2021 ; Wunderlich et al, 2021 ), which found that significant decreases were observed for total shots and shots on target in five European domestic leagues (German Bundesliga, Spanish La Liga, English Premier League, Portuguese Primeira Liga, and Italian Serie A). This finding gives further evidence that these performance variables related to goal scoring were negatively affected in the European leagues as well as the Asian League (CSL).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

“…Our study speculated that social factors were deemed to be critical, due to the fans' proximity to the playing area and the more constant, loud, inspiring sounds from the crowd, where enthusiastic cheers and chants can inspire entertaining, attacking play, and encourage home players to try harder (Almeida and Leite, 2021;McCarrick et al, 2021). Notably, our study highlighted that the overall increase in sprint distance was achieved without spectators, which is contrary to the previous study that suggested sprinting, acceleration, and deceleration distances did not change or showed a clear reduction compared to playing with spectators in the most soccer leagues (Brito de Souza et al, 2021;Rampinini et al, 2021;Santana et al, 2021;García-calvo et al, 2022). A possible explanation is that ball possessions ended without realizing the pre-prepared tactical strategies, which caused the counterattacks from the opponent.…”

Section: Indicatorscontrasting

confidence: 98%

“…From a global perspective, European and American top-class soccer matches played without spectators during the COVID-19 pandemic have been well-investigated. For example, shots on goal (accuracy) decreased for the home team without a crowd in the European soccer matches, and players' high-intensity running activities did not change but total distance and high-speed running distance decreased during the entire match (McCarrick et al, 2021 ; Rampinini et al, 2021 ; Wunderlich et al, 2021 ). Moreover, there was a reduction in HA for Serie A, but no change in HA for Serie B was reported in Brazilian Elite Soccer (Ribeiro et al, 2022 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

Impact of absent crowds on technical and physical performances in the Chinese Soccer Super League

Chen

Zhai

et al. 2022

Front. Psychol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

PurposeSpectators have a significant impact on match performances in soccer, but to what extent crowd support contributes to the technical and physical performances remains unclear. This study aimed to (1) investigate the differences in terms of technical and physical performances with and without spectators; and (2) identify the key factors differentiating between win and loss when playing with and without the presence of an audience.MethodsOur study examined 794 performance records from 397 matches during the 2019–2020 seasons in the Chinese Soccer Super League. The least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO)-logistic regression was utilized to select significant predictors. Using an independent t-test and the Mann–Whitney non-parametric test explores the difference between matches with and without spectators. Key factors between win and loss were explored using univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses.ResultsOur study found that cross (p < 0.01, ES = −0.24), shots (p < 0.001, ES = −0.25), and shot accuracy (p < 0.05, ES = −0.18) displayed decreasing trends whereas sprint distances (p < 0.05, ES = 0.16) presented an increasing trend without spectators comparing with the crowd support. Moreover, the above three technical variables were the main factors differentiating between wins and losses. Similarly, team and opponent quality remained important potential factors affecting the match outcome.ConclusionMatch outcome or team performance is determined by a myriad of factors, but there are clear differences in technical and physical performances between matches with and without the presence of an audience. Similarly, our study provides a better explanation for the impact of crowd support on match performances whereby coaches can deploy players and adjust match strategies for ultimate success.

show abstract