Abstract
The aim of this study was to determine whether the speed, agility, aerobic and anaerobic capacities of football players varied by playing positions. Elite youth football players (n = 123, age = 15.7 ± 0.5 years) who played in six different positions, as goalkeepers (GK), full backs (FB), central defenders (CD), wide midfielders (WM), central midfielders (CM), and attackers (AT), were assessed. Multivariate analysis of variances was used to compare the following variables: Linear running sprint for 5 m (S5) and 10 m (S10), flying sprint for 20 m (F20), agility 505 test with turn on the dominant (A505D) and non-dominant leg (A505N), agility K-test, Yo-Yo intermittent recovery (YYIR1) test and repeat sprint ability (RSA) test. The results showed significant influence of playing positions on linear-running sprint performance (F1,123 = 6.19, p < 0.01, ηp2 = 0.23). Midfielders reached significantly higher performance levels (CM = 2.44 ± 0.08 s, WM = 2.47 ± 0.13 s) in the A505N test compared to GK (2.61 ± 0.23 s). Outfield players had significantly higher performance in both YYIR1 and RSA tests compared to GK (p < 0.01). The results of this study may provide insightful strategies for coaches and clinical practitioners for developing position-specific conditioning programs.
Highlights
In recent years, football success has been shown to be highly dependent on various physical, technical, tactical, and psychological factors [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8]
The research participants consisted of 123 players of the top division of the Czech football league (n = 123, age = 15.7 ± 0.5 years, body height, BH = 178.5 ± 6.8 cm, body mass, BM = 68.2 ± 8.4 kg) who were clustered by their playing position: Goalkeeper (GK, n = 9), full back (FB, n = 25), central defender (CD, n = 15), wide midfielder (WM, n = 27), central midfielder (CM, n = 25), and attacker (AT, n = 22)
Results showed a greater change of direction speed with turning on the non-dominant leg (A505N) in midfielders than GK
Summary
Football success has been shown to be highly dependent on various physical, technical, tactical, and psychological factors [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8]. Bangsbo [9] emphasized that for successful competitiveness, the development of speed, agility, strength with combination of aerobic and anaerobic (even maximal) abilities is important for successful, competitive football careers. It is crucial that individual player position requirements be considered during football practice as pertains to completing tactical tasks, such as tandem defending, attacking runs behind the defensive line, and high pressing. Full backs (FB) have higher aerobic endurance performance than both central defenders (CD; up to 17%) and attackers (AT) (14%) [23].
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