Physiological demands in football

1. PHYSIOLOGICAL DEMANDS OF FOOTBALL
@FUFA TECHNICAL CENTRE - NJERU
FUFA / CAF “B” - DIPLOMA

2. Physical Actions during a match + Energy
metabolisms therein (2002)
 Football is a sport requiring high-intensity,
intermittent effort, hence the importance of aerobic /
anaerobic endurance and explosive speed.

3. Physiological Demands of Football
• When developing the physical capabilities of football players,
we should focus our attention on 3 different areas:
1. Endurance (Aerobic)
2. Short-Term Intensity (Anaerobic)
3. Speed, Agility and Coordination Development (Explosive)
• Maximising these key physical elements within a functional,
football specific way is imperative to the coaching process
and player motivation.

4. Energy Supply (aerobic / anaerobic)

5. Endurance Training (Aerobic)
• The intermittent nature of football highlights the need to
have well developed physical capabilities in order to
produce high power output (anaerobic), in conjunction to
being able to work for a sustained period of time at a
fluctuating tempo, shifting from low to high (intermittent
endurance)
• Predominance of the need for players to possess greater
endurance capacities can be suggested with distances
covered (9-12km) for a duration of 90-120 minutes.

6. AEROBIC TRAINING COMPONENTS
(ADEQUATE FUEL AND OXYGEN)
Descriptions:
• Aerobic – Exercise performed to
improve the use, absorption and
transportation of oxygen around
the body.
• It is estimated that 90-98% of
energy during competition is
derived from the aerobic system
(Bangsbo, 1994; Astrand and
Rodahl, 1986)
Components
• Maximal Oxygen Uptake, Lactate
Threshold (LT) and exercise economy
(Whipp et al., 1992).
• Monitoring Heart Rate (Owen et al.,
2004, Owen et al., 2011).
• Lactate Threshold (Edwards et al.,
2003)
• Oxygen Uptake (VO2max) (Helgerud
et al., 2001, McMillan et al., 2005.)
• Running Economy (Hoff and
Helgerud, 2003; Whipp et al., 1982).

7. Short-Term Intensive Training (Anaerobic)
• Crucial aspects within games are based upon short
explosive efforts (eg. Sprint and shoot; recovery sprints in
order to prevent a goal-scoring opportunity).
• Improving player’s high-speed and repeated sprint capacity
in order to continually reproduce near maximal efforts is
fundamental and may positively affect the outcome of
competitive matches.
• The initial explosive burst (acceleration phase) is suggested
to have a higher value in a football performance (compared
to other sports) and should be developed as a key physical
component.

8. Anaerobic Capabilities
• Speed Endurance
(Dupont et al., 2004)
• Repeated Sprint Ability
(Ferrari-Bravo et al.,
2008)
• Speed and Power
Development (Wisloff et
al., 2005; Miller et al.,
2006).
• Anaerobic energy (without
oxygen) - Energy Needed for
Explosive Movements
• Phospocreatine System (PCr)
= The muscles use this system,
also known as the anaerobic
alactic system, during the first
10 seconds of sustained muscle
contraction.
• It is anaerobic because it
doesn’t require oxygen to
function and the ‘alactic’
component means it does not
result in accumulation of lactic
acid.
Anaerobic Capabilities Developed:
Descriptions:

9. Speed, Agility and Coordination Development
• Speed development and sprint capacity is of huge
importance within the elite level of the game. However,
football players rarely achieve maximum sprint speed
during competitive matches.
• There are 4 key components of agility; balance,
coordination, planned movements and reactive
movements.
• Speed and agility training as part of a structured
programme across the whole season improves quickness,
acceleration, explosive and elastic jump power in young
football players.

10. Decision Making
• Players with better decision making and anticipation ability
may as a consequence, cover less distance at varying speed
thresholds, especially high speed and sprinting, as they are
able to read the game slightly better and make significantly
more astute decisions.
• This should be an important factor when assessing or
analysing movement demands or match analysis
components