Impact of official matches on soccer referees’ horizontal-jump performance

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe aim of this study was to quantify the acute impact of soccer match officiating on the bilateral and unilateral horizontal-jump (HJ) performance of field referees (FR) and assistant referees (AR). Thirty-six match officials were evaluated during 12 official soccer matches in a Spanish National Division. Participants were classified as FR (n = 12) and as AR (n = 24). Before (pre-match), at half-time (rest-match) and immediately after the matches (post-match), match officials performed 2 HJs with 2 legs and 2 jumps with right leg (HJright) and left leg (HJleft). HJ performance was significantly decreased from pre- to rest-match and from pre- to post-match (P = 0.001–0.02; effect size (ES) = 0.26–0.45, small), both in FR and AR. It was found that there was a very large association (0.72; ± 0.09, P < 0.01, most likely) between the distance covered at high-intensity decelerations (<–2.5m · s2) and the decrement in HJ capacity from the rest period to post-match in FR. Soccer refereeing might induce match-related fatigue in the muscles involved in the horizontal axis.