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Physical match performance and injuries in professional soccer before and after the COVID-19 break.

Authors :
Thron, Maximiliane
Härtel, Sascha
Woll, Alexander
Ruf, Ludwig
Gross, Timo
Altmann, Stefan
Source :
Science & Medicine in Football; 2021Supplement, Vol. 5, p31-34, 4p
Publication Year :
2021

Abstract

To examine possible differences in physical match performance and the injury occurrence before and after the COVID-19 induced interruption of the 2019/2020 season of the German Bundesliga. Due to the interruption, matches and soccer-specific training were suspended for nine weeks, matches after the resumption of play occurred congested, and the playing situation changed, regarding, e.g., an increase to five substitutions. For this purpose, the 25 match-days before (pre) and the 9 match-days after (post) the COVID-19 induced interruption were examined regarding total distance, sprinting distance, average peak velocity, high-intensity distance, and injury occurrence. Average peak velocity increased slightly for the comparison of pre and post with a small effect size (MD = 0.28 km/h, 95% CI: 0.11–0.45, p < 0.01, ES = 0.30, 95% CI: 0.12–0.48). There were no relevant differences in total distance, sprinting distance, high-intensity distance, and injury occurrence (0.11 ≤ p ≤ 0.82; 0.02≤ ES≤0.15). In terms of physical match performance and injury occurence results suggest the opportunity to recover and work on individual physical weaknesses during the interruption alongside with an increased number of substitutions was sufficient to compensate for the short soccer-specific preparation phase before the commencement of matches and the congested match schedule after the COVID-19 break. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
24734446
Volume :
5
Database :
Complementary Index
Journal :
Science & Medicine in Football
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
154101809
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1080/24733938.2021.1955955