Players’ match demands according to age and playing position in professional male soccer players

Changjing Zhou, Alberto Lorenzo, Miguel-Ángel Gómez and José M. Palao

International Journal of Performance Analysis in Sport, 2020, vol. 20, issue 3, 389-405

Abstract: The aim of this paper was to study the change of game patterns of elite soccer players according to their playing position and ages. A total of 28,547 match observations from 923 players were undertaken in the Chinese Soccer Super League (CSL) during six seasons (2012–2017) using tracking data from Amisco (Amisco, Nice, France). Playing positions were categorised as central defenders, fullbacks, central midfielders, wide midfielders, and attackers. The players were divided into four age groups: Group 1 (17–22.9 years), Group 2 (23–28.9 years), Group 3 (29–34.9 years), and Group 4 (35–40.9 years). Fourteen technical performance-related parameters and six physical performance-related parameters were chosen as performance variables in the analysis. Differences between the four age groups were determined using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). The running performance of players decreased with advancing age, especially for high intensity running. However, older wide midfielders and attackers (beyond 30 years of age) who were still playing in the league presented similar physical efforts. Fullbacks and attackers performed more passes and forward passes as they got older. Midfielders in the age group of thirty years or more make more passes and crosses. Midfielders and attackers have a higher shot ability when they are older.

Date: 2020
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/24748668.2020.1753979 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:rpanxx:v:20:y:2020:i:3:p:389-405

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/RPAN20

DOI: 10.1080/24748668.2020.1753979

Access Statistics for this article

International Journal of Performance Analysis in Sport is currently edited by Peter O'Donoghue

More articles in International Journal of Performance Analysis in Sport from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().