Association between anthropometric and physical data of university soccer players from different positions

Abstract

The present study aimed to check if there is an association between fitness performance variables and to analyze the variation of fitness levels between playing positions university soccer players. Twenty university soccer players were selected (20.95 ± 1.84 years; 71.60 ± 11.65 kg; 176.85 ± 7.28 m) divided into defenders, midfielders and attackers. Body composition was assessed in a cross-sectional analysis that correlated fat mass, lean mass and fat-free mass by DXA with the physical capacity tests. The main results of the present study revealed that both 10-m and 20-m accelerations had moderate-to-large correlations with agility tests across the playing positions, however these accelerations were largely inversely correlated with YoYo intermittent recovery test in defenders and largely positively in midfielders. The agility test was moderately correlated with YoYo intermittent recovery test across the different playing positions. In conclusion, there the acceleration and the agility had a positive association with the different positions of the soccer players.