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Objective: To analyze the influence of congested and noncongested fixture periods during 2 seasons in a professional male football team on soft-tissue injury incidence and external load., Methods: Thirty-three professional football players from a Portuguese Liga I team participated in this study. Weekly external load and soft-tissue injury rate and burden of 2 consecutive seasons (2021-22 and 2022-23) were analyzed., Results: Total soft-tissue injury rate and burden for the 2 seasons were 3.9 and 3.2 injuries per 1000 hours and 71.8 and 60.5 days per 1000 hours for congested and noncongested periods, respectively. No significant differences were observed between congested and noncongested periods. Total high-speed running, sprint distance, distance above 80% and 90% of maximal velocity, and meters accelerating and decelerating above 2 m/s2 were significantly higher for noncongested weeks. Match accelerations and decelerations above 3 m/s2 were higher during congested periods and training during noncongested periods. No differences between the 2 periods were observed for the total number of accelerations and decelerations above 3 m/s2. Overall, physical outputs per week were higher for training during noncongested weeks, whereas matches during congested periods registered higher external load., Conclusions: No effect of a congested schedule was observed on soft-tissue injury rates and injury burden. Higher match exposure during congested periods increased external load performed per week, and during noncongested periods, training load was superior to congested weeks.

Speed is an essential skill in sports performance and an important performance metric in talent identification. This study aims to evaluate and compare the sprint acceleration characteristics across different age groups in an elite soccer academy. A total of 141 elite academy soccer players were recruited to participate in the study, and they were assigned to their respective competitive age groups, ranging from under-14 to the B-team. An individual in-situ acceleration-speed (A-S) profile was assessed and derived from Global Position System (GPS) speed-acceleration raw data, from 10 consecutive football sessions, in the beginning of the season. The results showed that under-14 players exhibited significantly lower theoretical maximum speed (S0) ( η p 2  = 0.215, p  < 0.01) when compared with all other age groups. However, no differences were found between maximum theoretical acceleration (A0) and A-S slope between age groups. The results suggest that sprint mechanical profiles of young soccer athletes remain stable throughout their athletic development. Nevertheless, younger athletes have less capacity to apply horizontal force at higher speeds (S0).

Football (soccer) is a high-intensity intermittent sport with large energy demands. In a repeated-measures design, we analysed the nutritional intake and training load of fourteen female football players (22.50 ± 4.38 y; 57.23 ± 8.61 kg; 164 ± 6.00 cm; 18.33 ± 2.48% of fat mass and 23.71 ± 2.51 kg of muscle mass) competing in the highest female Football Portuguese League across a typical mid-season microcycle. The microcycle had one match day (MD), one recovery session (two days after the MD, MD+2), three training sessions (MD-3, MD-2, MD-1) and two rest days (MD+1). Energy intake and CHO (g.kg.BW−1) intake were lower on the days before the competition (MD+2, MD-3, MD-2 and MD-1 vs. MD; p < 0.05; ES: 0.60−1.30). Total distance, distance covered at high-speed running (HSRD) and the high metabolic distance load (HMLD) were lower on MD+2, MD-3 and MD-1 compared with MD (p < 0.05; ES: <0.2−5.70). The internal training load was lower in all training sessions before the competition (MD+2, MD-3, MD-2 and MD-1 vs. MD; p ≤ 0.01; ES: 1.28−5.47). Despite the small sample size and a single assessment in time, the results suggest that caloric and CHO intake were below the recommendations and were not structured based on the physical requirements for training sessions or match days.

The purpose of this study was to examine the interchangeability of a new perceived recovery status scale (PRS) of 100 points through a comparison to the original 10-point version. This study also aimed to test the interchangeability of CR100 scale (Borg's rate of perceived exertion scale) in comparison to the CR10. Twenty-five male elite youth soccer players (age: 18.0 ± 0.5 years old; body mass: 70.1 ± 6.7 kg; height: 177.8 ± 6.5 cm; experience: 11.7 ± 1.2 years) from the same team competing in the first national under-19 competition participated in this study. During two consecutive weeks, the players completed PRS (both 10- and 100-points) and CR10 and CR100 scales. Nearly perfect relationships were observed between 0-to-10 and 0-to-100 scales, both for recovery status (r = 0.96, confidence interval [0.95;0.97]) and ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) (r = 0.97 [0.97;0.98]). Moreover, almost 95% of individuals showed nearly-perfect-to-perfect associations between 0-to-10 and 0-to100 in terms of RPE and recovery scales. Both a PRS of 100 points and CR100 can be used interchangeably with a PRS of 10 points and CR10, respectively., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objective: To describe a case of a professional football player with significant imaging findings despite a rather innocuous clinical presentation with gradual onset of calf pain and who was able to continue training and playing with minor medical intervention. To discuss some of the limitations of existing muscle injury grading systems and their potential to cover the full range of injury presentations for calf injuries., Design: Case report., Setting: A professional football player was assessed by physical examination, clinical testing and imaging (MRI) after a gradual onset of a calf injury. After returning to training and competition, a follow-up of his symptoms was performed with regular ultrasound imaging assessments., Participant: A professional football player (35 years, 1.90 m, 88 kg) male, African, striker, playing in the Professional Arabian Gulf League., Conclusion: The discordance between the clinical presentation and the imaging findings resulted in a challenging situation regarding the decision of whether to allow the player to train and compete. In addition, existing muscle injury grading systems do not seem to cover the full range of injuries seen in clinical practice., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)