The Effect of the COVID-19 Lockdown on the Position-Specific Match Running Performance of Professional Football Players; Preliminary Observational Study

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

Kemal Idrizovic¹  Damir Sekulic²  Sime Versic²  Toni Modric²  Igor Jukic³  Dejan Javorac⁴  Goran Dimitric⁴  Jose Castro-Piñero⁵  Andrew Decelis⁶ 

[1] Faculty for Sport and Physical Education, University of Montenegro, 81400 Niksic, Montenegro;Faculty of Kinesiology, University of Split, 21000 Split, Croatia;Faculty of Kinesiology, University of Zagreb, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia;Faculty of Sport and Physical Education, University of Novi Sad, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia;GALENO Research Group, Department of Physical Education, Faculty of Education Sciences, University of Cádiz, Avenida República Saharaui s/n, 11519 Puerto Real, Spain;Institute for Physical Education and Sport, Faculty of Education, University of Malta, MSD 2080 Msida, Malta;

关键词: SARS-CoV-2;    match running performance;    soccer;    match demands;   

DOI  :  10.3390/ijerph182212221

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

The COVID-19 pandemic interrupted professional football in the 2019/2020 season, and football experts anticipate that the consequences of lockdown measures will negatively affect the physical performance of players once competition restarts. This study aimed to evaluate position-specific match running performance (MRP) to determine the effect of COVID-19 lockdowns on the physical performance of professional football players. Players’ MRPs (n = 124) were observed in matches before and after the COVID-19 lockdown in the 2019/2020 season of the highest level of national competition in Croatia and were classified according to player position: central defenders (CD; n = 42), fullbacks (FB; n = 20), midfielders (MF; n = 46), and forwards (FW; n = 16). The MRPs were measured using Global Positioning System, and included the total distance covered, low-intensity running (≤14.3 km/h), running (14.4–19.7 km/h), high-intensity running (≥19.8 km/h), total accelerations (>0.5 m/s²), high-intensity accelerations (>3 m/s²), total decelerations (less than –0.5 m/s²), and high-intensity decelerations (less than –3 m/s²). The results indicated that, in matches after the COVID-19 lockdown, (i) CDs and FBs featured lower running and high-intensity running (t-value: from 2.05 to 3.51; all p < 0.05; moderate to large effect sizes), (ii) MFs covered a greater distance in low-intensity running and achieved a lower number of total accelerations, and total and high-intensity decelerations (t-value: from –3.54 to 2.46; all p < 0.05, moderate to large effect sizes), and (iii) FWs featured lower high-intensity running (t-value = 2.66, p = 0.02, large effect size). These findings demonstrate that the physical performances of football players from the Croatian first division significantly decreased in matches after the COVID-19 lockdown. A combination of inadequate adaptation to football-specific match demands and a crowded schedule after the competition was restarted most likely resulted in such an effect.

【 授权许可】

Unknown