Body Composition of Elite Soccer Players

Abstract

The aim of this research was to determine the differences among the top soccer players of the club in Montenegro, FC Buducnost and the top soccer players of the club in Kosovo FC Trepca ´89, the champions in their countries, in the anthropometric characteristics and body composition. A sample of 45 subjects was divided into two sub-samples. The first sub-sample of the subjects consisted of 30 soccer players of FC Buducnost of the average age 22.73±4.33, the champions of the Montenegro Championship in the season 2016/17, while the other sub-sample consisted of 15 soccer players of FC Trepca ´89 of the average age 21.80±3.57, the champions of the Kosovo Championship in the season 2016/17. Soccer players were tested immediately after the end of the competition season 2016/17. Anthropometric characteristics were evaluated by a battery of 7 variables: body height, body weight, waist circumference, triceps skinfold, biceps skinfold, skinfold of the back, abdominal skinfold. The body composition were evaluated by a battery of 3 variables: body mass index, fat percentage and muscle mass. The standard central and dispersion parameters of all variables were calculated. The significance of the differences between the players of the top two soccer clubs in the anthropometric characteristics and variables for assessing body composition was determined by a t-test for independent samples. It was found that the soccer players of the two mentioned clubs don’t have statistically significant differences by the variables.