Morphological Characteristics of Elite International Soccer Referees: Somatotype and Bioelectrical Impedance Vector Analysis

Abstract

This study aimed to assess the physical characteristics of elite international soccer referees, compare them with other referee populations in the literature, and establish reference tolerance ellipses for the bioelectrical impedance vector analysis (BIVA) point graph. Forty-one elite international soccer referees (age 38.8 ± 3.6 years) participated in the study. The participants underwent body composition assessments, including dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry, BIVA, and somatotype. The Somatotype Attitudinal Distance (SAD), the two-sample Hotelling’s T2 test and the Mahalanobis test were used to determine somatotype and bioelectrical vector differences with the literature. The average somatotype of the referees was a balanced mesomorph (2.8, 6.5, 2.8). Elite international referees significantly differed from other samples in the literature (SAD = 2.1, 2.6, 2.9 with respect to Zimbabwean, Brazilian, and South African referees, respectively). The bioelectrical vector was significantly different from the general population (T2 ≤ 76.6; F = 38.8; D = 1.44; p < 0.001) and athletes (T2 ≤ 25.3; F = 12.6; D = 0.8; p < 0.001). Somatotype values and tolerance ellipses from this study may be useful as a reference for developing training programs and improving the selection process of referees in soccer.

Somatotype and bioelectrical impedance vector analysis of Italian CrossFit® practitioners

“…In addition, showed an inverse correlation with the ratio of extracellular to intracellular water (ECW/ICW), independently of the BIVA approach [ 14 ]. BIVA has been studied in many sports [ 15 ], plotting the athletes within a tolerance ellipse of a given reference population, performing intra- or inter-group comparisons, monitoring athletes through a competitive season [ 16 , 17 ], or creating new tolerance ellipses for specific sports population, as it has been made in soccer players and referees [ 18 , 19 ], cyclists [ 20 ], synchronized swimmers [ 21 ], handball players [ 22 ] or natural bodybuilders [ 23 ]. To our knowledge, this is the first study analyzing the complete bioelectrical profile in CrossFit®.…”