Caracterização física e fisiológica de jovens jogadores de Futebol de elite: relação com o estatuto posicional

Abstract

This dissertation aimed to assess the physical and physiological characteristics of young soccer players and check if there were differences between positional status. Data collection was conducted within the youth teams of one of the main clubs in the Portuguese first division, during the competitive period of the 2023/2024 season, from October 10 to December 22, 2023. One hundred and four players, aged between 13 and 18 (15,39 ± 1,27), were included in the study. Players belonged to four competitive levels: U15, U16, U17 and U19. All the teams competed in the respective national championship, first division, except the U16 team, which competed in the second division of the U17 national championship. The players were classified into six groups, corresponding to their playing positions: Goalkeepers, Central Defenders, External Defenders, Central Midfielders, External Midfielder and Forwards. To establish the player's physical profile, lower limb explosive strength tests (squat jump, countermovement jump, and standing long jump) were conducted, along with a lower limb reactive strength test (repeated pogo jumps), a maximum strength test (isometric midthigh pull), acceleration and maximum speed tests (10- and 30-meter sprints), and a maximum oxygen consumption test (1200-meter shuttle test). One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used for the statistical analysis. The analysis showed no statistically significant differences between playing positions for the tests, except for the standing long jump, where the forwards obtained significantly higher results than the external midfielders (p=0.027). Based on this data, we can conclude that young soccer players have no differences in playing positions.