Differences in Situational and Morphological Parameters between Male Soccer and Futsal - A Comparative Study

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine similarity and differences in morphological and situational parameters between futsal and soccer. The research was conducted on a sample of 82 subjects: 40 male futsal players and 42 male soccer players. In addition to height and body mass eight other anthropometric measures were presented. Situational parameters were represented by nine variables. Effect size of variables ranged from 0.001 to 0.062. Statistically significant difference was not determined among futsal and soccer players in the parameters of morphological characteristics. Futsal and soccer players have showed significant differences in the parameters of the number of gained possessions of the ball and number of runs with the ball at the level of significance p< 0.01. The other situational efficiency variables have shown no significant difference between these two types of team sports. The results of this study have shown that the futsal and soccer players differ only in two situational parameters. The difference in morphological variables was not found due to the fact that futsal players were mainly ex-soccer players. This finding suggests that futsal needs more specialized approach when starting in this sport.