PROCEEDINGS OF THE INSTITUTION OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERS. PART P, JOURNAL OF SPORTS ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY, cilt.5, sa.5, ss.1-21, 2023 (SCI-Expanded)
The aims of this study were to compare external match load between home and away matches as
well as the result of the match (win, draw and loss). The secondary aim was to quantify external
training load that preceded the next match taking into account both match location and result.
Ten elite women soccer players participated in the study (age 24.6±2.3 years). Seven home and
seven away matches in which four wins, three draws and seven losses occurred. The following
global positioning system (GPS) metrics were analyzed: duration, total distance, high-speed
running distance (HSR, ≥15 km/h), number of accelerations (ACC) and decelerations (DEC),
average speed and player load. There were no significant differences between match results and
match locations. Regarding comparisons of training data preceding different match results, only
duration and player load did not differ while HSR, number of ACC and DEC showed to be
higher when the next match was a loss (p<0.05, moderate to very large effect). Regarding
comparisons of training data preceding different match locations, only duration, total distance
and player load did not differ while HSR, average speed, number of ACC and DEC in all zones
were higher when the next match was at home (p<0.05, moderate to very large effect). In
conclusion, this study showed that match result and location did not have a significant effect on
GPS metrics exhibited during match-day. However, training data influenced the contextual
factors of the next match which should be considered when planning training sessions.