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Straight sprinting is the most frequent action in goal

situations in professional football
a b c b a b
Oliver Faude , Thorsten Koch & Tim Meyer
a
Institute of Sports and Preventive Medicine, Saarland University, Saarbrücken, Germany
b
Institute of Sports Medicine, University Paderborn, Paderborn, Germany
c
Institute of Exercise and Health Sciences, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland

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situations in professional football, Journal of Sports Sciences, DOI:10.1080/02640414.2012.665940

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 Journal of Sports Sciences, 2012; 1–7, iFirst article

Straight sprinting is the most frequent action in goal situations

in professional football

OLIVER FAUDE1,2,3, THORSTEN KOCH2, & TIM MEYER1,2

1
Institute of Sports and Preventive Medicine, Saarland University, Saarbrücken, Germany, 2Institute of Sports Medicine,
University Paderborn, Paderborn, Germany, and 3Institute of Exercise and Health Sciences, University of Basel, Basel,
Switzerland

(Accepted 8 February 2012)

Downloaded by [University of Basel], [Oliver Faude] at 01:13 07 March 2012

Abstract
The present study aimed to analyse the influence of speed and power abilities in goal situations in professional football.
During the second half of the season 2007/08, videos of 360 goals in the first German national league were analysed by
visual inspection. For the assisting and the scoring player the situations immediately preceding the goal were evaluated. The
observed actions were categorised as: no powerful action, rotation (around the body’s centre-line), straight sprint, change-in-
direction sprint, jump, or a combination of those categories.
Two hundred and ninety-eight (83%) goals were preceded by at least one powerful action of the scoring or the assisting
player. Most actions for the scoring player were straight sprints (n ¼ 161, 45% of all analysed goals, P 5 0.001) followed by
jumps (n ¼ 57, 16%), rotations and change-in-direction sprints (n ¼ 22, 6% each). Most sprints were conducted without an
opponent (n ¼ 109, P 5 0.001) and without the ball (n ¼ 121, P 5 0.001). Similarly, for the assisting player the most
frequent action was a straight sprint (n ¼ 137, P 5 0.001) followed by rotations (n ¼ 28), jumps (n ¼ 22) and change-in-
direction sprints (n ¼ 18). The straight sprints were mostly conducted with the ball (n ¼ 93, P ¼ 0.003).
In conclusion, straight sprinting is the most frequent action in goal situations. Power and speed abilities are important
within decisive situations in professional football and, thus, should be included in fitness testing and training.

Keywords: soccer, power, high-intensity running, video analysis, fitness training

Introduction
players might be regarded as an indication that
Professional football is characterised by high physical power is an important discriminant factor in football.
demands and frequent changes in exercise intensity More recently, Cometti and colleagues (2001)
(Di Salvo et al., 2007; Dupont, Akakpo, & Berthoin, reported that elite football players showed higher
2004; Stolen, Chamari, Castagna, & Wisloff, 2005). knee flexor strength and faster 10 m sprint times
Football players conduct 1000 to 1400 short-time when compared to amateur players. Similarly, Coen,
actions with frequent changes every 4 to 6 s and high Urhausen, Coen, and Kindermann (1998) observed
intensity actions about every 70 s (Stolen et al., faster 10 and 30 m sprint times in higher level
2005). Thus, power and speed abilities are generally players. Furthermore, Arnason et al. (2004) com-
believed to be relevant in decisive situations in pared team average physical fitness with team success
football (Cometti, Maffiuletti, Pousson, Chatard, & (final league standing) in the two highest Icelandic
Maffulli, 2001; Dupont et al., 2004; Meyer, 2006; football divisions and observed a significant relation-
Reilly, Bangsbo, & Franks, 2000; Wragg, Maxwell, & ship between average jumping height and team
Doust, 2000). Surprisingly, there is only scarce success. A recent study reported moderate negative
scientific data substantiating the importance of correlations (r ¼ 70.60 and 70.65) between re-
power and speed in football. peated sprint ability (average time of six 40 m (2 x
The early findings of Jacobs, Westlin, Karlsson, 20 m) shuttle sprints) and the distances covered at
Rasmusson, and Houghton (1982) that fast twitch very high intensities (419.8 km  h71) and while
muscle fibres were predominant (60% fast twitch sprinting (425.2 km  h71) in elite football players
fibres and 66% relative muscle area occupied in (Rampinini et al., 2007a). Together, these findings
M. vastus lateralis) in top level Swedish football might be interpreted as indirect evidence that speed

Correspondence: Oliver Faude, Saarland University, Institute of Sports and Preventive Medicine, Saarbrücken, Germany. E-mail: [email protected]
ISSN 0264-0414 print/ISSN 1466-447X online Ó 2012 Taylor & Francis
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2012.665940
 2 O. Faude et al.

and power abilities are of considerable importance

in high level football. In particular, Cometti et al.
(2001) concluded that short-sprinting performance
could be an important determinant of match-
winning actions in football. To date, however, this
view is not substantiated by direct observational data.
In light of the lacking direct scientific data
regarding the importance of speed and power in
decisive situations in football, the present descriptive
study aimed to assess the frequency of various
powerful actions (straight sprints, change-in-direc-
tion sprints, jumps, rotations) in goal situations in
professional football by video analyses. Goal situa-
tions were chosen, because they are the ultimate
objective measures of success in football (Pollard &
Downloaded by [University of Basel], [Oliver Faude] at 01:13 07 March 2012

Reep, 1997; Tenga, Ronglan, & Bahr, 2010b).

Methods
During the second half of the season 2007/08 videos
of 409 goals (out of a total of 429, missing recordings
from 5% (7 out of 153) of all matches) in the first
German national league were recorded on DVD
from public television broadcast. Three percent of
these goals were own goals, 8% directly resulted
from a standard situation (free kicks, penalties) and
1% could not be evaluated due to insufficient video
sequences. Thus, 360 goals (89% of recorded and
84% of all goals) were analysed for the scoring Figure 1. Flow chart of recorded and analysed goals.
player. Eleven percent of those goals were assisted
by a standard situation (corners, free kicks) and,
consequently, 322 goals were analysed for the
Main categories
assisting player (Figure 1).
Public sport programmes show all goals of the Rotation. This category comprised rotations of a
highest German leagues with multiple replays in real player around his body’s vertical centre-line. A
time as well as slow motion from various perspec- rotation of at least 908 had to be completed with
tives. This enabled a comprehensive evaluation of the whole body. A rotation only of the upper body
most goal situations. For the assisting as well as the was not rated as a complete rotation. Kappa
scoring player the situations directly preceding coefficients for inter- and intra-observer reliability
the goals (time from action while receiving the ball were k ¼ 0.70 and k ¼ 0.84, respectively, corre-
to the assisting pass or to the shot on goal, sponding to 97% and 96% agreement.
respectively) were evaluated by visual video analysis.
For this purpose, the observer was free to watch each Straight (linear) sprint. This sprint was defined as a
situation as often as was necessary to categorise the very high intensity run with (near) maximal velocity
observed activities into one of the following main in a straight direction after a distinct acceleration.
categories: rotation, straight sprint, change-in-direc- Kappa coefficients for inter- and intra-observer
tion sprint, jump, a combination of those categories reliability were k ¼ 0.63 and k ¼ 0.67, respectively,
or absence of the above mentioned actions (no corresponding to 83% agreement each.
powerful action). Each goal was visually analysed by
one investigator. Inter-observer-reliability was as- Change-in-direction sprint. A change-in-direction
sessed by two investigators independently analysing sprint was defined as a very high-intensity run with
30 randomly selected goals. One investigator ana- two distinct and identifiable accelerations in different
lysed 24 goals twice 4 weeks apart to estimate intra- directions (more than 508 from the initial sprint line)
observer-reliability. Kappa coefficients for inter- and (Young, McDowell, & Scarlett, 2001). Slightly
intra-observer reliability for the overall assessment curved runs without a second acceleration phase
were k ¼ 0.75 and k ¼ 0.84. This corresponded to were not assessed as change-in-direction sprints but
87% and 92% agreement, respectively. instead as linear sprints. Kappa coefficients were:
 Explosive actions in goal situations in football 3

inter-observer reliability k ¼ 1.00 (100% agreement), Table I. The number of powerful actions in goal situations for the
intra-observer reliability k ¼ 0.84 (96% agreement). scoring and the assisting player.

number of powerful actions

Jump. A jump was defined as a primary vertical
movement with only partial horizontal direction 0 1 2 or more
(e.g. headers or tacklings in the air) and with clearly scoring player
identifiable take-off and flight phase. Kappa coeffi- n 138 189 33
cients were: inter-observer reliability k ¼ 1.00 (100% % 38 (33 – 43) 53 (48 – 58) 9 (6 – 12)
agreement), intra-observer reliability k ¼ 0.84 (96% assisting player
agreement). n 146 152 24
% 45 (40 – 50) 47 (42 – 52) 7 (4 – 10)
For all main categories, it was additionally
evaluated whether those actions were completed Data as absolute and relative frequencies (with 95% confidence
under the pressure of an opponent, i.e. a defending intervals).
player trying to conquer the ball or to impede the
offensive action. In addition, for the straight sprint
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and change-in-direction sprint categories it was observed for the assisting player (P 4 0.18). Straight
assessed whether the activity was performed with or sprints of the scoring player were predominantly
without the ball. Ball possession was defined as the (75%) conducted without the ball (P 5 0.001). In
player having at least two contacts with the ball. contrast, the assisting player sprinted most frequently
Without ball possession was assumed when there was (64%) with the ball (P ¼ 0.003, Figure 2). The
only one final contact before scoring or assisting scoring player conducted most powerful actions
a goal (direct play). Furthermore, the players were without an opponent (P ¼ 0.002) whereas this
categorised according to their playing position was not the case for the assisting player (P ¼ 0.62,
(defender, midfielder, striker) as published on the Table II).
official club homepages. Strikers scored more goals after performing a
powerful action compared to midfielders (P ¼ 0.06)
and defenders (P 5 0.001, Figure 3). Whereas
Statistics
defenders scored mostly after a jump (58%), strikers
In the present descriptive study data are given as and midfielders scored more often after a straight
absolute and relative frequencies and frequency sprint (62 and 70%, respectively, Table III). When
tables were used to present data. Ninety-five percent strikers assisted a goal this was more often conducted
confidence intervals for relative frequencies were after a powerful action compared to defenders
calculated. Differences between categories with (P ¼ 0.006) and midfielders (P 5 0.001, Figure 3).
regard to the absolute and relative frequency of The most frequent powerful action while assisting
occurrence were analysed by means of chi square- a goal was a straight sprint (65 to 69% of all powerful
testing. actions) for all playing positions (Table III).
An a–level of P 5 0.05 was accepted as statistically
significant.
Discussion
The present study aimed to describe the frequency of
Results
powerful actions when scoring or assisting a goal in
In 298 out of 360 goals (83%) at least one powerful professional football. In 83% of all goals during the
action of either the scoring or the assisting player second half of the season 2007/08 in the German
was observed. In 62% (222 out of 360 goals) there Bundesliga at least one powerful action of the scoring
was at least one powerful action of the scoring player or assisting player was observed. The present results
resulting in a total of 262 powerful actions (Table I). show that straight sprints are the most dominant
The assisting player conducted at least one powerful powerful action in decisive offensive situations in
action in 55% (176 of 322) of the goals. This resulted elite football. Change-in-direction sprints, jumps and
in a total of 205 powerful actions for the assisting rotations seem to be of less importance when scoring
player (Table I). a goal. Whereas most powerful actions of the scoring
Figure 2 demonstrates that straight sprinting was player (81%) were conducted without the ball
the most frequent powerful action prior to scoring (i.e. one-touch actions), this was equally distributed
for the scoring as well as for the assisting player for the assisting player (50% direct play and 50%
(P 5 0.001 each). Whereas jumping was significantly dribbling).
more frequent than change-in-direction sprint or The main result of this study is that most goals
rotations in scoring players (P 5 0.001) no difference were preceded by a powerful action. In particular,
in frequency between those powerful actions was this was predominantly a straight sprint by either the
 4 O. Faude et al.
Downloaded by [University of Basel], [Oliver Faude] at 01:13 07 March 2012

Figure 2. The frequency of powerful actions with and without ball possession in goal situations for the scoring (top) and the assisting player
(bottom). Data as absolute and relative frequencies (with 95% confidence intervals). * ¼ significantly different to all other categories.
CinD ¼ change-in-direction.

Table II. Absolute and relative frequencies of powerful actions with and without an opponent.

straight sprint CinD sprint jump rotation sum

n % n % n % n % n %

scoring player
with opponent 52* 19.8 15 5.7 33 12.6 6* 2.3 106* 40.5
without opponent 109* 41.6 7 2.7 24 9.2 16* 6.1 156* 59.5
assisting player
with opponent 54* 26.3 15* 7.3 13 6.3 17 8.3 99 48.3
without opponent 83* 40.5 3* 1.5 9 4.4 11 5.4 106 51.7

* ¼ values with and without opponent significantly different. CinD ¼ change-in-direction.

 Explosive actions in goal situations in football 5
Downloaded by [University of Basel], [Oliver Faude] at 01:13 07 March 2012

Figure 3. The frequency of goals or assists which were accompanied by powerful actions as related to playing positions. The bars represent
relative frequencies (with 95% confidence intervals). The absolute number of goals and assists preceded by a powerful action related to the
total number of goals and assists are embedded within the bars. * ¼ significantly different to both other categories ; # ¼ significantly different
to defenders.

Table III. Absolute and relative frequencies of powerful actions as covered with the ball (Di Salvo et al., 2007).
related to playing position Similarly, fighting against an opponent may also
slow down velocity and, thus, it is also plausible that
straight CinD
sprint sprint jump rotation sum most successful explosive actions of the scorer were
conducted without an opponent. In contrast, mid-
n % n % n % n % n % fielders assisted most goals while sprinting with the
scoring player
ball. This finding corresponds to the observation that
defender 12 4.6 1 0.4 19 7.3 1 0.4 33 12.6 midfielders cover a higher running distance with the
midfielder 62 23.7 6 2.3 12 4.6 9 3.4 89 34.0 ball compared to other playing positions (Di Salvo
striker 87 33.2 15 5.7 26 9.9 12 4.6 140 53.4 et al., 2007). It might be speculated that it is
assisting player necessary to perform a short sprint with the ball to
defender 21 10.2 2 1.0 7 3.4 2 1.0 32 15.6
midfielder 63 30.7 11 5.4 7 3.4 10 4.9 91 44.4
reach an appropriate position to pass the ball to the
striker 53 25.9 5 2.4 8 3.9 16 7.8 82 40.0 best positioned teammate.
Interestingly, Tenga, Holme, Ronglan, and Bahr
CinD ¼ change-in-direction. (2010a) observed in 163 matches of the male
Norwegian professional league that success (scoring
a goal) was higher when teams conducted counter-
scoring or the assisting player. Straight sprinting attacks compared to elaborate attacks. Therefore,
enables a player to escape from his opponent and/or the importance of very high-intensity running and
to reach a free zone to shoot on the goal or to give a sprinting, which might be assumed more relevant in
decisive pass. The straight line is the shortest possible counterattack situations, seems plausible from a
connection between two points and, thus, it seems tactical point of view. Another interesting finding in
plausible that straight sprinting enables the attacker this regard is that less successful teams (bottom five
to arrive at an anticipated promising position in the of the final league standing) covered more high-
shortest possible time. Thus, the time to accurately intensity running distance compared to successful
defend the situation might be too short for the teams (top five) (Di Salvo, Gregson, Atkinson,
opposing player. Tordoff, & Drust, 2009). This difference was
Goals were mostly scored by strikers after a mainly due to more high-intensity running without
straight sprint without the ball. Sprinting with the ball possession and, thus, probably due to the
ball may slow down the movement and, hence, the attempts to regain the ball. However, the number of
striker does not have the advantage described above. leading sprints (sprints of more than 0.5 s duration)
This is not surprising when considering that only 1.2 was significantly higher in successful teams. Effect
to 2.4% of the running distance in match play is sizes were small and, thus, the practical relevance
 6 O. Faude et al.

of this finding should be further substantiated. Nevertheless, this may be an interesting topic for
Nevertheless, the relationship between tactical future research, too.
behaviour, physical abilities of players and team
success might represent an interesting topic for
Study limitations
future research.
The present findings are also in line with observa- Obviously, the main limitation of the present study is
tions that, in particular, strikers together with wing the use of visual video inspection to assess different
midfielders and fullbacks are the playing positions powerful actions when scoring a goal. This approach
showing the greatest running distances while sprint- might be prone to subjective bias and, thus, critical
ing during match play (Di Salvo et al., 2007; evaluation of inter-observer consistency using kappa
Rampinini, Coutts, Castagna, Sassi, & Impellizzeri, statistics has been recently proposed (Barris &
2007b). Sprinting activities vary considerably (3 to Button, 2008; Drust, Atkinson, & Reilly, 2007).
40 bursts of high intensity activity, 423 km  h71, Kappa coefficients for inter- and intra-observer
per match) with the above mentioned positions reliability in the present study indicated substantial
conducting more bursts compared to central defen- to almost perfect agreement for all analysed cate-
Downloaded by [University of Basel], [Oliver Faude] at 01:13 07 March 2012

ders and central midfielders (Di Salvo et al., 2007). gories (Landis & Koch, 1977). There was only a low
Considering the importance of straight sprints in number of goals which were preceded by combined
successful match situations, a high number of sprints actions (about 9% of all goals) and selected for
of strikers may enhance their chance of scoring a reliability analyses. Thus, we refrained from calculat-
goal. Moreover, it might be speculated that wing ing kappa coefficients for those combined actions.
midfielders are frequently involved in sprint duels However, it is unlikely that this affected the overall
with the opposing fullbacks prior to assisting a goal. results and conclusions of the present study.
However, from the present results no conclusive Alternatively, the use of modern video tracking
statement in this regard is possible as we did not systems might have allowed more objective evalua-
distinguish between central and external midfield tion of running distances and velocities (Carling,
positions. Bloomfield, Nelsen, & Reilly, 2008; Drust et al.,
The importance of straight sprinting in goal 2007). Such an approach, however, would have
situations can have implications for training and reduced the number of goals remaining for analyses
competition. With respect to tactical decision making because only a few stadiums in Germany are
the present findings may influence the selection of equipped with such systems. In addition, available
players or the preferred playing strategy. Further- systems show considerable variability when assessing
more, it has been shown that sprint times can be running distances (Randers et al., 2010) and, thus,
improved by specific training regimens (Stolen et al., it would be necessary to use the same system in all
2005) with different effects of straight and change- stadiums to allow valid comparisons. Furthermore,
in-direction sprint training on the respective sprint despite recent technical advances, automated player
ability (Young et al., 2001). Considering the tracking and the analyses of single actions like jumps,
relevance of straight sprinting in decisive situations, rotations and change-in-direction sprints still need
it is recommended that fitness training and testing manual correction and analysis (Barris & Button,
should include such sprints. 2008) and, thus, altogether it seems questionable
Other powerful actions seem to be of minor whether such an approach might have been really
importance for scoring a goal in high level football. advantageous.
Jumping seems relevant when goals are scored In the present study, scored goals have been used
through headers after crosses or standards. This is as the ultimate objective measure of success in
particularly relevant for defenders when scoring a football. Such an approach has been criticised as
goal. Change-in-direction sprints seldom precede a goals only account for about 1% of all ball posses-
goal. It might be speculated that changing direction sions in high level football (Pollard & Reep, 1997;
needs time and, thus, defenders are able to arrive at Tenga et al., 2010b). Thus, when using goals as
an appropriate defending position and have more criterion measures for decisive situations in football
time left to successfully interfere. large samples are required for meaningful analyses.
Possibly, change-in-direction sprints, jumps and Alternatively, broader measures such as scoring
rotations are of greater importance in decisive opportunities, shots on goal, or entry in the last
defensive situations when players must react to the third of the pitch have been proposed (Tenga et al.,
attacking players’ behaviour. However, the analysis 2010b). However, such an approach may complicate
of defensive situations was not addressed in an objective assessment of decisive situations in
the present study and such an approach might be football. For instance, it might be speculated
limited because objective assessment of definitely that most of those situations were not successful
decisive defensive situations seems complicated. because the conducted physical activities were not
 Explosive actions in goal situations in football 7

appropriate to score a goal and, thus, these situations Coen, B., Urhausen, A., Coen, G., & Kindermann, W. (1998).
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present data were obtained during one half of a elite, subelite and amateur French soccer players. International
Journal of Sports Medicine, 22, 45–51.
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Dupont, G., Akakpo, K., & Berthoin, S. (2004). The effect of

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