A soccer game analysis of two World Cups: playing behavior between elite female and male soccer players

Abstract

Women's soccer becomes increasingly popular. Although there is an obvious difference between the men's and women's game no information is available in quantifying these differences to date. Therefore, video analyses of the finals, semi-finals and quarterfinals of the world championship of the men in Korea/Japan (2002) and of the women in USA (2003) were conducted. Every action with the ball was characterized and localized on the playing field. The overall number of actions in the men's and in the women's game is nearly the same. Women cover distances more by long passes rather than short range activities (dribbling, short passes). Their play is less aggressive (fewer sliding tacklings) and they have to use other strategies for kicking a goal. The higher muscle strength of men is an important factor for being more successful in achieving goals with long-range full-instep kicks. The women use more headballs and try to get closer to the goal before trying to score. As a consequence of the lower muscle strength in women they have to use more full instep and instep kicks to achieve distances which are covered by the men with inside and instep kicking techniques. A women's soccer shoe should take into account the differences of these playing characteristics. Whereas the men use more frequently the inside of the shoe, instep and full instep kicks are more frequently performed by the women.