Is there meaningful influence from situational and environmental factors on the physical and technical activity of elite football players? Evidence from the data of 5 consecutive seasons of the German Bundesliga.

Paweł Chmura,Andrzej Rokita,Hongyou Liu,Jan Chmura,Marek Konefał,Marcin Andrzejewski,Edward Kowalczuk,Yih-Kuen Jan

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0247771

Abstract

The study aimed to identify the effects of situational (match location, match outcome and strength of team/opponent team) and environmental (ambient temperature, relative humidity, WBGT, ground and weather condition) factors on the physical and technical activity of elite football on individual playing positions. Physical and technical activity were collected from 779 football players competing in the German Bundesliga during 5 domestic seasons, from 2014/2015 to 2018/2019, totalling 1530 matches. The data on players' physical and technical activity was taken from the IMPIRE AG system. Based on the available data, 11 variables were selected to quantify the match activity profiles of players. The results showed that situational variables had major effects on the technical performance (especially number of passes performed) but minor effects on physical performance. In turn, among the analysed environmental factors, temperature is the most sensitive, which affects the Total Distance and Sprint Efforts of players in all five positions. This investigation demonstrated that, given that passing is a key technical activity in modern football, players and training staff should be particularly aware that passing maybe affected by situational variables. Professional players are able to react and adapt to various environmental conditions, modifying physical activity depending on the needs in German Bundesliga. These results could help coaches and analysts to better understand the influences of situational and environmental variables on individual playing positions during the evaluation of players' physical and technical performance.

Highlights

The high dynamic and multidirectional character of modern-day football matches requires detailed match analysis with state-of-the-art, technologically-advanced motion analysis systems [1]
It has been previously reported that match location, match outcome and strength of team and opposition are deemed the most significant situational factors influencing team performance during a football match [10, 11]
Our study demonstrated that situational variables had major effects on the technical activity, but trivial effects on the physical activity in German Bundesliga players

Summary

Introduction

The high dynamic and multidirectional character of modern-day football matches requires detailed match analysis with state-of-the-art, technologically-advanced motion analysis systems [1]. Any holistic approach must take into consideration the performance-related and situational factors recognised to affect physical and technical activities of football players [6]. It has been previously reported that match location (home advantage), match outcome (match result) and strength of team and opposition are deemed the most significant situational factors influencing team performance during a football match [10, 11]. Analyses based on match outcome, with a consideration of the players’ field position, can be very useful in explaining differences in the impact of situational factors on physical and technical activities of players [11, 15]. In the German Bundesliga, in won matches, it has been observed that, players in offensive positions ran a significantly longer distance especially for distances covered at intensities of 21–23.99 and above 24 km/h [16, 17] Thirdly, evidence indicates that stronger teams: a) dominated ball possession against their opponents [11, 18, 19], b) demonstrated more stable patterns of play, independently of the evolving score-line [11, 13], and c) did not experience the same home advantage as inferior opponents [14]

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Results

Discussion

Conclusion