It is necessary to understand movement characteristics of elite female soccer players during a match to develop effective training program. The purpose of this study is to analyze the physical demands of Korean female professional soccer players during a competitive season. Twenty-four female professional players (age: 27.8±3.9 years; height: 165.7± 5.1 cm) from a team, belonging to the women’s professional soccer league in South Korea participated in the study. The players participated in 11 home matches and 10 away matches from April 26 to November 9 of the 2011 season. Body weight and body mass index decreased during the first half-season compared to the preseason (
In order to improve exercise performance of soccer players during a match, a scientific and systematic training program should be applied. Various studies have been conducted to develop an effective training program (
Soccer players play a large number of games during a season, which lasts approximately nine months. The period of a season usually consists of preseason, beginning, middle, and end of season (
The movements of soccer players differ, depending on their playing positions (
Although the popularity of women’s soccer is lower than that of men’s soccer, it has increased a lot compared to that in the past. The number of studies on women’s soccer is increasing with an increase in popularity of women soccer. The performance ratio of each intensity exercise, such as standing, walking, jogging, high-intensity running, and sprint during women’s soccer match is similar to that of men’s soccer players (
Most of the studies on the exercise performance of soccer players during a game have been conducted in European countries. In order to develop a training program to prevent injuries and improve performance of Asian female soccer players with different physical characteristics such as height and weight, it is necessary to understand their exercise performance characteristics during a match. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to analyze the physical demands of Korean female professional soccer players during a competitive season.
Twenty-four female professional players from a team, belonging to the women’s professional soccer league in South Korea participated in the current study (age: 27.8±3.9 years; height: 165.7± 5.1 cm). Only players who played more than 85 min of a 90-min league match were selected. Goalkeepers were excluded because of relatively low activity due to the nature of their position during a match. The positions were divided into center back (CB), full back (FB), midfielder (MF), wing forward (WF), and forward (FW). The players participated in 11 home matches and 10 away matches out of a total of 21 matches from April 26 (first round) to November 9 (last round) of the 2011 season. The season was divided into first half-season (14 matches: April to July) and second half-season (7 matches: August to November) with approximately four weeks break period. Changes in body composition parameters in the players were assessed 3 times during the season (pre-, first half- and second half-seasons) using multifrequency bioelectrical impedance analysis (InBody 720, Biospace, Seoul, Korea).
Match activities were analyzed using a global positioning system (GPS) at 10 Hz, including a tri-axial accelerometer sampling at 100 Hz. The players wore GPS-only vests before warm-up, and the GPS units were fitted between the upper scapulae. Units were activated 10 min before each match and turned off immediately following the match, in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions. The players were provided the same GPS device throughout the season to avoid interunit variability. The following match activity categories were applied: walking (0–7 km/hr), low-intensity running (7.1–13 km/hr), moderate-intensity running (13.1–19 km/hr), high-intensity running (19.1–23 km/hr), and sprinting (>23.1 km/hr). The total distance was calculated as the sum of distances of all types of activities during a match.
All statistical analyses were performed using SPSS ver. 17.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). All values are expressed as mean values±standard deviation. A one-way analysis of variance and repeated measures analysis of variance was used to compare the distance covered according to playing positions and changes in body composition. When a significant
Body weight (ES=0.16) and body mass index (BMI, ES=0.15) decreased during the first half-season compared to the preseason (
The female soccer players covered more than 9.5 km of distance per match. No difference was found in the total movement (ES= 0.09), movement distance by exercise intensities (ES rage of 0.04–0.27), number of sprints (ES=0.25) and accelerations (ES=0.27), and maximum speed (ES=0.20) between the first half- and second half-seasons. However, the number of decelerations (ES=0.43) was significantly lower in the second half-season than in the first half-season (
Midfielders covered the most distance (ES=0.58) during a match compared to other positions (
There were no significant differences between home and away matches in all variables (total distance, distance covered by exercise intensities, number of sprinters, accelerations and decelerations, and maximum speed) (ES rage of 0.01–0.22) (
This study was conducted to analyze the exercise activity of female professional soccer players during a season in South Korea. Female professional soccer players covered more than 9.5 km of distance and 400 m of high-intensity running per match. The position that covered the most distance of movement during the match was MF, and the movement distance for each exercise intensity differed, depending on the position. No significant differences were observed in all values between the first and second half-season, and between home and away matches.
Unlike the European women’s soccer league, which starts in September and ends in May of the following year, the Korean women’s professional soccer league starts in April and ends in November. The performance of players can deteriorate due to weather, as they have to play even during humid and hot summer. Therefore, body weight and BMI decreased during summer compared to those in preseason. However, there was no significant difference in the degree of exercise performance by intensity during the matches between the first and second half of the season. This result was opposed to a previous study that evaluated movement and total distance covered. High and very high-intensity running were different according to the season period (
Unlike the factors that did not differ by periods of season, the number of decelerations was lower in the second half-season than in the first half-season. According to season classification, the decrease in the number of decelerations in the second half-season may be related to the summer weather. Since the second half-season starts in August, the number of decelerations, one of the forms for high-intensity exercise, can be affected by hot and humid weather. Therefore, as a result of analyzing the number of decelerations per month, it was lowest in August (73.1±19.8) compared to other months (77.7–93.4). Hot environment caused an imbalance in the amount of water and ion loss, which decreased physical and technical soccer performance by inhibiting muscle activities (
Generally, higher rate of winning in soccer is observed during home matches due to home advantage (
Soccer players are required to have specific physical demands for each position due to the characteristics of the game style and tactics pursued by the team (
High-intensity exercise was performed the most among WFs, including sprint. This is not consistent with previous studies, as it has been reported that FW players completed the greatest distance during sprinting (
The number of accelerations and decelerations, which indicate the degree of sudden changes in movement during the game were different, depending on the position. The number of acceleration and deceleration was highest among WF and MF, respectively. These results showed the characteristics of the exercise performance pattern of the positions. In other words, WF must have performed more acceleration because they are required to perform a lot of explosive movement to cover a wide space when there is a switched from defense to attack or vice versa. Additionally, the MF is considered to complete a higher number of decelerations because players must perform many changes in direction of movements in compacted situations with other players in a narrow space of the central area.
The important limitation of current study can be noted. Exercise performance during the season was analyzed for only one of several women’s professional soccer teams in the study. The movement patterns of players during a match are influenced by the tactical characteristics of the team. Therefore, there is a limit to generalizing the characteristics of a team’s athletic performance during the season as the characteristics of the entire women’s professional soccer league. In future study, it is necessary to analyze the exercise performance of players during the season with a large number of players from various teams to compensate for the limitation.
The results of this current study showed that female professional soccer players covered a lot of distance and performed high-intensity exercise as the male players, and there were differences in movement patterns for each position. Therefore, in order to improve the performance of female soccer players and prevent injuries, a training program should be constructed that considers the characteristics of each player and playing position rather than uniform training in a team.
The authors received no financial support for this article.
No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.
Changes in body composition
Variable | Preseason | 1st half | 2nd half |
---|---|---|---|
Weight (kg) | 59.1±5.6 | 58.5±5.4 |
58.0±5.0 |
Body mass index (kg/m2) | 21.5±0.3 | 21.2±0.3 |
21.1±0.2 |
Muscle mass (kg) | 26.0±3.0 | 25.9±3.0 | 25.6±2.8 |
Body fat (%) | 21.1±3.8 | 19.8±6.0 | 20.6±4.2 |
Values are presented as mean±standard deviation.
Significant difference between pre- and the first half-season (
Match performance between first and second period of season
Variable | 1st half | 2nd half |
---|---|---|
TD (km) | 9.5±0.8 | 9.6±0.9 |
Walking | 3,863.5±373.7 | 3,873.9±332.1 |
Low-intensity running (m) | 3,463.5±641.4 | 3,565.0±682.0 |
Moderate-intensity running (m) | 1,715.4±478.6 | 1,711.5±484.7 |
High-intensity running (m) | 361.5±122.6 | 328.2±129.4 |
Sprinting (m) | 110.2±84.3 | 96.9±82.4 |
Sprinting (n) | 14.7±6.5 | 13.1±6.7 |
Acceleration (n) | 70.8±18.0 | 66.2±15.9 |
Deceleration (n) | 84.9±21.2 | 76.0±19.9 |
Peak speed (km/hr) | 26.4±2.0 | 26.0±1.9 |
Values are presented as mean±standard deviation.
TD, total distance.
Significant difference between the first half- and the second half-season (
Match performance according to playing positions
Variable | CB | FB | MF | WF | FW | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
TD (km) | 8.8±0.5 | 9.9±0.5 | 10.5±0.5 | 9.2±0.3 | 9.2±0.7 | 34.1 |
A<BC, DE<B<C, DE<C |
Walking | 3,864.7±181.2 | 3,794.1±239.0 | 3,599.4±155.2 | 4,294.4±429.1 | 4,187.5±516.1 | 15.3 |
A>DE, B>DE, C>DE |
Low-intensity running (m) | 3,275.9±383.1 | 3,764.1±355.0 | 4,099.7±392.4 | 2,773.8±460.4 | 2,832.8±769.5 | 28.7 |
BC>A>D, B>DE, C>DE |
Moderate-intensity running (m) | 1,308.0±265.8 | 1,779.0±275.2 | 2,324.2±301.7 | 1,484.6±174.7 | 1,532.4±342.3 | 39.8 |
A<BC, C>B>D, C>DE |
High-intensity running (m) | 235.8±60.9 | 400.6±109.0 | 357.6±102.4 | 442.3±93.3 | 422.5±102.4 | 13.3 |
A<BCDE |
Sprinting (m) | 56.3±29.2 | 117.6±51.2 | 51.2±35.1 | 236.2±90.0 | 184.3±81.8 | 32.1 |
A<BDE, C<B<DE, C<DE |
Sprinting (n) | 9.1±3.3 | 16.7±5.2 | 11.6±4.5 | 21.0±5.9 | 19.1±5.7 | 18.1 |
A<BDE, B>C, C<DE |
Acceleration (n) | 62.7±12.5 | 66.8±12.5 | 66.0±8.5 | 91.6±21.5 | 80.1±19.9 | 11.0 |
A<DE, B<DE, C<D |
Deceleration (n) | 61.0±12.3 | 83.1±12.9 | 101.5±14.4 | 94.1±18.7 | 86.5±18.0 | 21.5 |
A<BCDE, B<C, C>E |
Peak speed (km/hr) | 25.7±112 | 26.7±1.0 | 24.3±1.3 | 28.6±1.0 | 28.3±1.7 | 36.4 |
C<A<DE, C<B<DE, C<DE |
Values are presented as mean±standard deviation.
TD, total distance; CB, center back; FB, full back; MF, midfielder; WF, wing forward, FW, forward.
A, CB; B, FB; C, MF; D, WF; E, FW.
Significant difference among playing positions (
Match performance between home and away matches
Variable | Home (n=12) | Away (n=9) |
---|---|---|
TD (km) | 9.5±0.8 | 9.6±0.9 |
Walking | 3,892.8±374.8 | 3,832.0±339.7 |
Low-intensity running (m) | 3,480.2±678.7 | 3,514.5±623.5 |
Moderate-intensity running (m) | 1,668.6±435.9 | 1,775.2±528.2 |
High-intensity running (m) | 343.6±120.3 | 361.3±131.8 |
Sprinting (m) | 104.4±84.2 | 108.3±83.6 |
Sprinting (n) | 13.9±6.4 | 14.5±6.9 |
Acceleration (n) | 68.9±17.1 | 70.1±18.2 |
Deceleration (n) | 81.3±21.0 | 83.4±21.4 |
Peak speed (km/hr) | 26.3±1.9 | 26.3±2.1 |
Values are presented as mean±standard deviation.
TD, total distance.