Match-related physical performance in professional soccer: Position or player specific?

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine to what extent the physical match performance of professional soccer players is both position and player specific. First, official match data from the 2019/20 German Bundesliga season was used to search for players that met the inclusion criteria of playing a minimum of four entire matches in at least two different playing positions. Overall, 25 players met the criteria prior to the COVID-19 induced break, playing a minimum of eight matches. Second, the physical match performance of these players was analyzed separately for each position they played. The following four parameters were captured: total distance, high-intensity distance, sprinting distance, and accelerations. Third, the 25 players’ physical match performance data was then compared to normative data for each position they played to understand whether players adapted their physical performance (position dependent), or maintained their performance regardless of which position they were assigned to (position independent). When switching the position, the change in physical match performance of the respective players could be explained by 44–58% through the normative positional data. Moreover, there existed large individual differences in the way players adapted or maintained their performance when acting in different positions. Coaches and practitioners should be aware that some professional soccer players will likely incur differences in the composition of physical match performance when switching positions and therefore should pay special consideration for such differences in the training and recovery process of these players.

Does Technical Match Performance in Professional Soccer Depend on the Positional Role or the Individuality of the Player?

“…Two studies already examined the extent to which the match performance of soccer players is not only position-specific, but also player-specific ( Schuth et al, 2016 ; Altmann et al, 2021 ). Altmann et al (2021) investigated the behavior of players that switched between playing positions (e.g., center back to full back).…”

“…Two studies already examined the extent to which the match performance of soccer players is not only position-specific, but also player-specific ( Schuth et al, 2016 ; Altmann et al, 2021 ). Altmann et al (2021) investigated the behavior of players that switched between playing positions (e.g., center back to full back). Their results showed that 44–58% of the intraindividual changes in physical match performance due to the change in position can be explained by the factor playing position.…”

“…In contrast to a nomothetic approach, an idiographic approach investigates individual cases to describe and interpret them in the respective context. Based on the results of Altmann et al (2021) we hypothesize that some players will maintain their performance while some players will adjust their performance toward the positional role.…”

Is it worth the effort? Understanding and contextualizing physical metrics in soccer

“…Physical match performance is one of the most studied topics in Sports Science since EPTS devices became a trend in soccer. Despite the vast number of publications, most research has focused on assessing player performance based on isolated metrics such as distance covered, accelerations, or high-intensity runs (HI) (Bradley et al 2013;Altmann et al 2021; Ingebrigtsen et al 2015). In addition, the tactical context tends to be widely simplified and often ignored.…”

Factores que intervienen en el éxito deportivo: Una experiencia educativa

“…Therefore, many researchers have been doing research on the field to understand it further in terms of physiological and technical requirements (Rivilla-Garcia et al, 2019;Konefal et al, 2020). Recently, through match analysis, there has been an increase in the existing information on the distance players run (Brandley et al, 2018;Smpokos et al, 2018;Altmann et al, 2021). This is related to the fact that there have been developments in match analysis systems and that coaches are more keen on this subject (Rivilla-Garcia et al, 2019).…”