[Development and evaluation of a soccer focused complexity test]

Soccer has increasingly become a technical - tactical (speed of activity!) and athletic sport over the last years. Simultaneously the new training and contest conditions result in new challenges to sports science and sports medicine evaluation. Complex, sports specific field tests for soccer exist rarely and only in low quality.

Development and evaluation of a standardised complexity test in soccer (FBKT) for assessment of the complex sports specific and league specific physical performance.

Two regional German soccer teams (Verbandsliga [VL], Oberliga [OL]) (n = 27) were assessed with FBKT. The assessment included lactate levels, heart rate as well as time and error frequency (penalty time per error: 5 s) for defined activity series at defined time points (heart rate: rest, after round 1, prior to round 2, E 0, E 2, E 6, E 10, E 14; lactate: rest, E 2, E 6, E 10, E 14).

The heart rate (hr (max) = 200 min (-1)) and metabolic rate (lactate (max) = 17.1 mmol/l) were very excessively high and did only partially differ between the groups (heart rate difference at rest p = 0.005, prior to round 2: p = 0.014, E 6: p = 0.042). Furthermore no significant differences occurred in the following parameters: recovery potential (hr (E0 - E14): p = 0.560; lactate (Max-Min): p = 0.448), technical error (p = 0.384), sprint (p = 0.499), slalom dribbling (p = 0.310), time round 1 (p = 0.119), shots on goal (p = 0.585) and crosses (p = 0.676). Significant difference were only found in the parameters time round 2 (p = 0.004), time round 1 and round 2 (p = 0.013), overall time (running)(time + penalty)(time) (p = 0.022) and speed dribbling (p = 0.005).

Soccer specific complex loads generate very high physical demamds. Although complex, the FBKT proved to be a practical assessment tool with high standardising potential. The FBKT gives plentiful information under competition - like conditions such as technical skills, speed, speed endurance or anaerobe capacity.