Pre- and mid-season repeated sprint ability of soccer referees from the first and second divisions

The main aim of the study was to investigate the differences in repeated sprint ability of first- compared to second-division referees at the beginning and in the middle of the soccer season. Twenty-seven main and 51 assistant referees, from the first (age 36.2 ± 5.3) and the second (age 28.8 ± 3.9) soccer divisions, performed two fitness tests—at the beginning and at mid-season, consisting of a repeated sprint test of 6 × 40 m and 5 × 30 m sprints for the referees and assistant referees, respectively. While no differences were found among the first division’s main referees, significant improvement ( p