Elite Soccer Players from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo

Abstract

This research aimed to determine the differences among the top soccer players of a club in Bosnia and Herzegovina, FC Siroki Brijeg, and the top soccer players of a club in Kosovo, FC Besa Peje, the winners of the Cup in their countries, in the morphological characteristics and body composition. A sample of 40 subjects was divided into two sub-samples. The first sub-sample of the subjects consisted of 22 players FC Siroki Brijeg, the average age of 24.00±6.22, the winner of the Cup of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the 2016/17 season, while the other sub-sample consisted of 18 players of FC Besa Peje of the average age of 21.83±3.17, the winner of the Cup of Kosovo in the season 2016/17. Soccer players were tested immediately after the end of the 2016/17 competition season. Morphological characteristics were evaluated using a battery of seven variables: body height, body weight, waist circumference, triceps skinfold, biceps skinfold, skinfold of the back, abdominal skinfold. The body composition was evaluated using a battery of three 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 morphological characteristics and variables for assessing body composition was determined using a t-test for independent samples. The t-test results showed a statistically significant difference only in two variables waist circumference and triceps skinfold.