Physiological Demands, Morphological Characteristics, Physical Abilities and Injuries of Female Soccer Players

Abstract

The popularity of female soccer is increasing as well as the number of females playing soccer. Similarly, over the last twenty or so years, research in soccer has increased significantly, but a large disparity exists in the volume of studies involving male and female players. As a consequence of this, female players remain less well understood compared to males. The purpose of the present narrative review was to describe morphological characteristics, physiological demands, physical abilities and injuries in female soccer players. Physiological demands are similar between men’s and women’s soccer, but competitive women’s matches were characterized by nearly 33% less distance covered, although at higher intensity levels (maximum speeds greater than 15 km/h) than typically found in the men’s game. Sub-elite female players also tended to run less at higher intensity levels at the end of both halves in comparison with elite female players. High intensity running is an important factor of success in soccer since many critical moments of the game occur under this condition. The ability to rapidly change direction also determined elite, sub-elite and amateur levels. The implementation of functional training, which focused on soccer-specific drills and plyometric exercises, to improve explosive power, may improve conditioning in female soccer players as well as decrease the risk of injuries which was 3-8 times higher in females compared to males. This review presents an in-depth overview of the most influential factors for determining success in female soccer.

Short-Term Compound Training on Physical Performance in Young Soccer Players

“…Young soccer players should develop physical abilities optimally to cope with the increasing match and training demands throughout the season. Moreover, due to the continuous changing context during a match, young players need to become more effective in applying force within a brief amount of time in several activities involving a stretch-shortening cycle (acceleration, deceleration, change of direction, and jump tasks) in a multidirectional manner [4,7,25,26]. This scenario requires trainers to identify effective training programs for enhancing strength and power transferable to youth sport-specific performance [8], such as compound training.…”

Athlete Workloads During Collegiate Women's Soccer Practice: Implications for Return to Play

“…The results of this study highlight several important characteristics of the drill structure and female soccer player load that sports medicine clinicians, sports scientists, and coaches may consider in future practice. Given that past athlete monitoring investigations in women's college soccer players have largely focused on cumulative practice and game data, [15][16][17]20,22 this current study adds valuable insights into practice-specific demands by drill structure. Clinicians may use this information to facilitate rehabilitation and return to play decision-making, while coaches and sport scientists may consider this information in regard to training demands across female soccer athletes.…”

“…There have been mixed findings in previous assessments of game data for female soccer athletes, with some reports finding higher demands on defenders than other positions, 15 while other have found highest density of loading on forwards/strikers. 16,22 This is likely attributed to player rotation for this particular team, as defenders tended to play more minutes per game than other position players.…”

“…While the literature is mixed on using workload data to predict injury, clinicians can leverage wearable technology to devise more objective rehabilitation programs. As there are relatively high rates of lower extremity injuries among female collegiate soccer athletes, 22,23 contextualizing external load demands for each of the common drill structures during soccer training would help inform athletic trainers and other key stakeholders how to use objective data for the development of rehabilitation goals during the return-to-play progressions after injury. 24 Specifically, measuring external demands through accelerations and decelerations encapsulating athlete player loads, and total distances covered during bouts of activity, have been found to be robust measures to quantify athlete workload that would not be possible to assess without incorporating wearable sensors into play.…”

“…a corner kick to score or other re-start scenarios for either offense or defense). 22 The descriptive assessments reflected that tactical skills had large associated training intensity during play as reflected in the total distance per minute and PL per minute outcomes (~16-17%), and players exhibited around 50% volume during practice relative to game play. This is important to consider given that PL is calculated using tri-axial accelerometry loading metrics, and takes into account acceleration, deceleration, change of direction, and vertical displacement into the PL metrics.…”