Positional Differences in the Most Demanding Scenarios of External Load Variables in Elite Futsal Matches

Abstract

The aims of this study were to analyze the peak physical demands in elite futsal by quantifying the most demanding scenarios of match play and to identify the differences between playing positions (defenders, wingers, and pivots) and the seasonal trend for five different rolling average time windows (30, 60, 120, 180, and 300 s). The most demanding scenarios of external load from distance, speed, acceleration, and deceleration variables were obtained from 14 elite futsal players using a local positioning system during 15 official matches in the premier Spanish Futsal League (2018–2019 season). The results showed an extremely large effect of the time window for all dependent variables in all positional groups. Another important finding of this study was that, in regard to the seasonal trend, only defenders reported clear moderate-large positive trends for high-speed running (>18 km⋅h–1) efforts, high-acceleration efforts, and high-deceleration efforts. Finally, moderate-large individual differences in player means for all dependent variables and clear differences between games for most dependent variables were found, suggesting how likely contextual factors may exert an influence on how “demanding” the most demanding scenarios are. The findings of this study provide coaches and strength and conditioning coaches further knowledge of the peak physical demands in elite futsal competition. This valuable information may lead to a more precise position-specific training prescription.

Effects of acute caffeine ingestion on futsal performance in sub-elite players

“…Additionally, the low number of players (i.e., 4 field players plus a goalkeeper) and the reduced available space for play (i.e., 40 × 20 m) demands that elite futsal players must possess a combination of excellent physical, technical and tactical skills [2]. From a physical point of view, futsal performance has been associated with high-levels of agility [3], muscle power [3][4][5], repeated sprint ability [6,7] and maximal . kg -1. min -1 ; [8]).…”

“…Because futsal is characterised by intermittent and explosive demands, strategies to enhance the capacity for repeating high-intensity actions may be crucial for competition [6,7]. Caffeine (1,3,7-trimethylxanthine) is an ergogenic aid with recognised effectiveness to increase performance in team sports with comparable physical demands to futsal such as football [9,10], basketball [11], handball [12], volleyball [13,14] and hockey [15].…”

Lateral Preference and Inter-limb Asymmetry in Completing Technical Tasks During Official Professional Futsal Matches: The Role of Playing Position and Opponent Quality

“…To confirm whether each athlete preferred to play using their left- or right-foot, we also checked information about them from another public repository of their anthropometric characteristics ( www.playmakerstats.com/ ). Finally, players were also sub-grouped according to the positional role as a defender ( N = 27), winger ( N = 36), or pivot ( N = 13) (Illa et al, 2021 ) and based on the final classification of the opponent team (i.e., ranking). To compute this later index, we applied the K-means cluster analysis (Gómez et al, 2011 , 2015a ; Aquino et al, 2017a ) to the cumulative sum of points earned by each team across the matches.…”

Differences between official and non-official matches in worst-case scenarios in elite futsal players

“…Regarding the quantification of the match demands, different methods (i.e., "average approach" or "worst-case scenarios" [WCS] methods) have been used to measure and analyze the mechanical stress that players are exposed to during the match. The WCS approach relates to the quantification of the most intense period of the game or training [11] and is becoming increasingly popular in team-sports, such as soccer [9,10], rugby [11], Australian football [12], futsal [13], and field-and ice-hockey [14,15], to assess fluctuations in matchdemands by dividing time-play into discrete "epochs". The WCS may be considered more accurate to quantify the most intense periods of the game, because the "average approach" may overlook variations and obscure the most intense periods of the play [16].…”

“…Depending on the availability of wearable technology (i.e., GPS vs accelerometry) and sport (i.e., indoor vs outdoor), player load (PL), player load per minute (PL•min -1 ), total distance, and high-speed running have been the most commonly investigated variables with timewindows ranging from 30-s to 10-min in length [9][10][11][12][13][14]. Within the WCS approach, the fixedperiod method (FIX) was first developed [17], and consisted of splitting the time into fixedperiods (e.g., 1-30-s, 31-60-s, etc.).…”