Association Between Physical Demands and Skill-Related Performance with Respect to Match Outcome in Senior Football Players

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15359/mhs.23-1.20527

Keywords:

external load, technical-tactical, outcome, odds

Abstract

Objective: Analyse how external load and technical-tactical variables change with respect to match outcome (win vs loss vs draw). Nine professional football players (age 25.6±2.54 years) playing in the Nordic League (Denmark) were monitored with GPS during 14 official matches. Technical-tactical performance was retrieved from Wyscout. We submitted total distance, sprint distance, high-speed running, and maximal speed to a repeated measure ANOVA test. The same was applied to total actions, total passes, forward, back, lateral, and last third passes, dribbles, ball interceptions, and defensive, offensive and aerial duels won. Finally, an ordinal logistic regression was conducted to assess whether the variables had significant effects on the match outcome probabilities. We found significant differences on TAct (p<0.05, win=38.25±15.65 vs draw=47.98±21.70), TPass (p<0.05, win=30.64±14.98 vs draw=40.43±20.61), LPass (p<0.01, win=10.39±6.10 vs draw=15.83±9.52) and BInt (p<0.01, win=4.83±2.15 vs draw=3.03±1.37). BInt had a predictive effect on match outcome with an odds ratio of -0.334 (95% CI, -0.523 to -0.145), Wald χ2(1) = 11.953, p = .001. Our findings emphasise the importance of considering technical-tactical performance indicators in relation to match outcome, with particular emphasis on the explanatory potential of ball interceptions in relation to key game moments such as offensive transitions.

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Published

2026-06-05

How to Cite

Silva, T., Matos Esteves, P. T., & Ibáñez, S. J. (2026). Association Between Physical Demands and Skill-Related Performance with Respect to Match Outcome in Senior Football Players. MHSalud: Revista En Ciencias Del Movimiento Humano Y Salud, 23(1), e20527. https://doi.org/10.15359/mhs.23-1.20527