Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 5, 2026
10:08
Effects of a Novel Neuromuscular Training Intervention on Jump, Sprint, and Change of Direction in Adult Female Soccer Players
Published on: June 10, 2025
Impact of Sprint Performance Characteristics Across Acceleration-Initial Speed Profiles in LALIGA
José Luis Quintero-Illera1, Fabio Nevado Garrosa2, Raúl Zarzuela-Martin3
1Department of Physical Education, Sport and Human Motricity, Autonomous University of Madrid, 28049 Madrid, Spain.
Sports (Basel, Switzerland)
|July 27, 2026
Summary
Professional soccer players with higher acceleration capacity and initial running speed cover more high-intensity distances. Offensive players excel in high-intensity running and acceleration, unlike defenders, highlighting positional differences in soccer performance.
Area of Science:
- Sports Science
- Biomechanics
- Soccer Performance Analysis
Background:
- Understanding acceleration capacity and initial running speed is crucial for optimizing soccer player performance.
- Player performance metrics, including high-intensity running and acceleration, vary significantly across different playing positions.
- Previous research has not fully elucidated the relationship between acceleration characteristics and competitive high-intensity actions in professional soccer.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze the relationship between acceleration capacity (maximal theoretical acceleration, A0Int) and initial running speed (maximal theoretical initial running speed, S0Int) and high-intensity running/acceleration performance in professional soccer.
- To investigate positional differences in these relationships among professional soccer players.
- To classify players into distinct groups based on their acceleration and speed profiles.
Main Methods:
- 222 professional male soccer players from LALIGA were analyzed over two seasons.
- K-means clustering was used to classify players based on A0Int and S0Int.
- Mixed models assessed high-intensity accelerations (Mean75AS0), high-speed running distances, and maximum speed across positions and clusters.
Main Results:
- Players with high A0Int and S0Int (Cluster 1) covered significantly greater distances in high-intensity running and performed more accelerations than those with low values (Cluster 2).
- Players with high A0Int but low S0Int (Cluster 3) showed higher accelerations at low initial running speeds.
- Offensive players (e.g., wingers, forwards) demonstrated superior high-intensity running distances and acceleration capabilities compared to central defenders (CD).
Conclusions:
- The relationship between maximal theoretical acceleration and initial running speed significantly influences competitive high-intensity running and acceleration performance in soccer.
- Positional roles are critical, with offensive players exhibiting higher high-intensity running and acceleration metrics than defensive players.
- This study provides insights into talent identification and training program design by linking specific acceleration-speed profiles to positional demands.
Related Concept Videos
01:30Average Acceleration
The importance of understanding acceleration spans our day-to-day experiences, as well as the vast reaches of outer space and the tiny world of subatomic physics. In everyday conversation, to accelerate means to speed up. For instance, we are familiar with the acceleration of our car; the harder we apply our foot to the gas pedal, the faster we accelerate. The greater the acceleration, the greater the change in velocity over a given time. Acceleration is widely seen in experimental physics. In...
01:23Motion of a Projectile
Projectile motion becomes evident when a player kicks the ball into the air. The launch angle, or the angle at which the ball is kicked, plays a crucial role in determining the trajectory of the projectile. As the ball soars through the air, influenced solely by gravity, its motion can be dissected into two independent velocity components: the horizontal and the vertical.
Horizontal motion, governed by the initial kick, maintains a constant velocity throughout the flight of the soccer ball.
Horizontal motion, governed by the initial kick, maintains a constant velocity throughout the flight of the soccer ball.
01:10Relative Motion Analysis - Acceleration
A slider-crank mechanism converts rotational motion from the crank into linear motion of the slider or vice versa. This mechanism consists of three main parts: the crank, the connecting rod, and the slider. The movement of the slider-crank is an example of general plane motion as the fluctuating angle between the crank and the connecting rod. Consider a segment AB where point A is at the end of the slider and point B is on the diametrically opposite end to point A, on a crack. The variance in...
01:16Instantaneous Acceleration
Acceleration is in the direction of the change in velocity, but it is not always in the direction of motion. When an object slows down, its acceleration is opposite to the direction of its motion. Although commonly referred to as deceleration, this causes confusion in our analysis as deceleration is not a vector, and does not point to a specific direction with respect to a coordinate system. Therefore, the term deceleration is not used. For example, when a subway train slows down, it...
01:11Angular Velocity and Acceleration
We previously discussed angular velocity for uniform circular motion, however not all motion is uniform. Envision an ice skater spinning with their arms outstretched; when they pull their arms inward, their angular velocity increases. Additionally, think about a computer's hard disk slowing to a halt as the angular velocity decreases. The faster the change in angular velocity, the greater the angular acceleration. The instantaneous angular acceleration is defined as the derivative of angular...
01:30Acceleration Vectors
In everyday conversation, accelerating means speeding up. Acceleration is a vector in the same direction as the change in velocity, Δv, therefore the greater the acceleration, the greater the change in velocity over a given time. Since velocity is a vector, it can change in magnitude, direction, or both. Thus acceleration is a change in speed or direction, or both. For example, if a runner traveling at 10 km/h due east slows to a stop, reverses direction, and continues their run at 10 km/h due...