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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., Competing Interests: Authors declare that they do not have any commercial affiliation relating to employment, consultancy, patents, products in development, or marketed products, etc. This does not alter our adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

The study aimed to: (1) investigate physical and technical performance among players during six consecutive phases of a competitive season, (2) determine if levels of match running and technical performance between the 1st and 6th phases of a season can be maintained, (3) and determine which phase features the lowest and highest values for variables assessed. Seventy out of 556 outfield players who played at least 80% of the matches in each phase of the Bundesliga seasons were analysed. Each season was divided into 6 phases: phase 1 (matches 1-6), phase 2 (7-11), phase 3 (12-17), phase 4 (18-23), phase 5 (24-28) and phase 6 (29-34). Thirteen variables were selected to quantify the physical and technical activity of players. Our results showed that by reducing the distances covered at intensities below 11 km·h -1 , players were able to cover greater distances at intensities in the range of 11-13.99 and 21-23.99 km·h -1 in subsequent phases of a season. Players' capacity to maintain match running and technical performance between the first and sixth phases of the season has been demonstrated, though the 4th phase of the season showed a breakthrough point as regards the maintenance of exercise capacity among players participating in the Bundesliga.

Background: The aim of this study was to determine what physical and technical activities of soccer players in different pitch positions affect significantly the match outcome of professional German soccer players; as well as to examine whether differences in physical and technical activities increase or reduce the probability of a match being won., Methods: The study sample comprised 4393 individual match observations of 350 soccer players competing in the Bundesliga during the 2014/2015 domestic season. Analysis was confined to outfield players (other than goalkeepers) who completed entire matches, and was carried out using the Impire AG motion analysis system. The selection of physical and technical activities to be used in predictive models was achieved using the lasso method., Results: The odds ratio revealed that an mean running speed in the second half that was greater by 0.1 km/h was associated with a 27.0% improvement in the odds of a match being won (OR=1.27; 95% CI: 1.17 to 1.38) (forwards), 15.7% (OR=1.16; 95% CI: 1.09 to 1.23) (wide midfielders), and 10.0% (OR=1.10; 95% CI: 1.04 to 1.17) (central midfielders). Furthermore, in the case of wide midfielders, a significant variable was the distance covered at >24 km/h, with an increase of 0.1 km associated with odds of winning the game improved by 31.7% (OR=1.32; 95% CI: 1.05 to 1.66)., Conclusions: Match outcome is affected significantly where peak and mean running speeds in the second half of the match are greater, and where longer distances are covered at speeds in excess of 24 km/h.