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Straight sprinting is the most frequent action in goal
situations in professional football
Oliver Faude
a b c
b
, Thorsten Koch & Tim Meyer
a b
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
Version of record first published: 06 Mar 2012.
To cite this article: Oliver Faude , Thorsten Koch & Tim Meyer (2012): Straight sprinting is the most frequent action in goal
situations in professional football, Journal of Sports Sciences, 30:7, 625-631
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2012.665940
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Journal of Sports Sciences, April 2012; 30(7): 625–631
Straight sprinting is the most frequent action in goal situations
in professional football
OLIVER FAUDE1,2,3, THORSTEN KOCH2, & TIM MEYER1,2
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
Downloaded by [Copenhagen University Library] at 00:39 14 January 2013
1
(Accepted 8 February 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-indirection 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-indirection 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
Professional football is characterised by high physical
demands and frequent changes in exercise intensity
(Di Salvo et al., 2007; Dupont, Akakpo, & Berthoin,
2004; Stolen, Chamari, Castagna, & Wisloff, 2005).
Football players conduct 1000 to 1400 short-time
actions with frequent changes every 4 to 6 s and high
intensity actions about every 70 s (Stolen et al.,
2005). Thus, power and speed abilities are generally
believed to be relevant in decisive situations in
football (Cometti, Maffiuletti, Pousson, Chatard, &
Maffulli, 2001; Dupont et al., 2004; Meyer, 2006;
Reilly, Bangsbo, & Franks, 2000; Wragg, Maxwell, &
Doust, 2000). Surprisingly, there is only scarce
scientific data substantiating the importance of
power and speed in football.
The early findings of Jacobs, Westlin, Karlsson,
Rasmusson, and Houghton (1982) that fast twitch
muscle fibres were predominant (60% fast twitch
fibres and 66% relative muscle area occupied in
M. vastus lateralis) in top level Swedish football
players might be regarded as an indication that
power is an important discriminant factor in football.
More recently, Cometti and colleagues (2001)
reported that elite football players showed higher
knee flexor strength and faster 10 m sprint times
when compared to amateur players. Similarly, Coen,
Urhausen, Coen, and Kindermann (1998) observed
faster 10 and 30 m sprint times in higher level
players. Furthermore, Arnason et al. (2004) compared team average physical fitness with team success
(final league standing) in the two highest Icelandic
football divisions and observed a significant relationship between average jumping height and team
success. A recent study reported moderate negative
correlations (r ¼ 70.60 and 70.65) between repeated sprint ability (average time of six 40 m (2 x
20 m) shuttle sprints) and the distances covered at
very high intensities (419.8 km h71) and while
sprinting (425.2 km h71) in elite football players
(Rampinini et al., 2007a). Together, these findings
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
Downloaded by [Copenhagen University Library] at 00:39 14 January 2013
626
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 matchwinning 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-direction sprints, jumps, rotations) in goal situations in
professional football by video analyses. Goal situations were chosen, because they are the ultimate
objective measures of success in football (Pollard &
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
player. Eleven percent of those goals were assisted
by a standard situation (corners, free kicks) and,
consequently, 322 goals were analysed for the
assisting player (Figure 1).
Public sport programmes show all goals of the
highest German leagues with multiple replays in real
time as well as slow motion from various perspectives. This enabled a comprehensive evaluation of
most goal situations. For the assisting as well as the
scoring player the situations directly preceding
the goals (time from action while receiving the ball
to the assisting pass or to the shot on goal,
respectively) were evaluated by visual video analysis.
For this purpose, the observer was free to watch each
situation as often as was necessary to categorise the
observed activities into one of the following main
categories: rotation, straight sprint, change-in-direction sprint, jump, a combination of those categories
or absence of the above mentioned actions (no
powerful action). Each goal was visually analysed by
one investigator. Inter-observer-reliability was assessed by two investigators independently analysing
30 randomly selected goals. One investigator analysed 24 goals twice 4 weeks apart to estimate intraobserver-reliability. Kappa coefficients for inter- and
intra-observer reliability for the overall assessment
were k ¼ 0.75 and k ¼ 0.84. This corresponded to
87% and 92% agreement, respectively.
Figure 1. Flow chart of recorded and analysed goals.
Main categories
Rotation. This category comprised rotations of a
player around his body’s vertical centre-line. A
rotation of at least 908 had to be completed with
the whole body. A rotation only of the upper body
was not rated as a complete rotation. Kappa
coefficients for inter- and intra-observer reliability
were k ¼ 0.70 and k ¼ 0.84, respectively, corresponding to 97% and 96% agreement.
Straight (linear) sprint. This sprint was defined as a
very high intensity run with (near) maximal velocity
in a straight direction after a distinct acceleration.
Kappa coefficients for inter- and intra-observer
reliability were k ¼ 0.63 and k ¼ 0.67, respectively,
corresponding to 83% agreement each.
Change-in-direction sprint. A change-in-direction
sprint was defined as a very high-intensity run with
two distinct and identifiable accelerations in different
directions (more than 508 from the initial sprint line)
(Young, McDowell, & Scarlett, 2001). Slightly
curved runs without a second acceleration phase
were not assessed as change-in-direction sprints but
instead as linear sprints. Kappa coefficients were:
Explosive actions in goal situations in football
inter-observer reliability k ¼ 1.00 (100% agreement),
intra-observer reliability k ¼ 0.84 (96% agreement).
627
Table I. The number of powerful actions in goal situations for the
scoring and the assisting player.
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number of powerful actions
Jump. A jump was defined as a primary vertical
movement with only partial horizontal direction
(e.g. headers or tacklings in the air) and with clearly
identifiable take-off and flight phase. Kappa coefficients were: inter-observer reliability k ¼ 1.00 (100%
agreement), intra-observer reliability k ¼ 0.84 (96%
agreement).
For all main categories, it was additionally
evaluated whether those actions were completed
under the pressure of an opponent, i.e. a defending
player trying to conquer the ball or to impede the
offensive action. In addition, for the straight sprint
and change-in-direction sprint categories it was
assessed whether the activity was performed with or
without the ball. Ball possession was defined as the
player having at least two contacts with the ball.
Without ball possession was assumed when there was
only one final contact before scoring or assisting
a goal (direct play). Furthermore, the players were
categorised according to their playing position
(defender, midfielder, striker) as published on the
official club homepages.
Statistics
In the present descriptive study data are given as
absolute and relative frequencies and frequency
tables were used to present data. Ninety-five percent
confidence intervals for relative frequencies were
calculated. Differences between categories with
regard to the absolute and relative frequency of
occurrence were analysed by means of chi squaretesting.
An a–level of P 5 0.05 was accepted as statistically
significant.
Results
In 298 out of 360 goals (83%) at least one powerful
action of either the scoring or the assisting player
was observed. In 62% (222 out of 360 goals) there
was at least one powerful action of the scoring player
resulting in a total of 262 powerful actions (Table I).
The assisting player conducted at least one powerful
action in 55% (176 of 322) of the goals. This resulted
in a total of 205 powerful actions for the assisting
player (Table I).
Figure 2 demonstrates that straight sprinting was
the most frequent powerful action prior to scoring
for the scoring as well as for the assisting player
(P 5 0.001 each). Whereas jumping was significantly
more frequent than change-in-direction sprint or
rotations in scoring players (P 5 0.001) no difference
in frequency between those powerful actions was
0
scoring player
n
138
%
38 (33 – 43)
assisting player
n
146
%
45 (40 – 50)
1
2 or more
189
53 (48 – 58)
33
9 (6 – 12)
152
47 (42 – 52)
24
7 (4 – 10)
Data as absolute and relative frequencies (with 95% confidence
intervals).
observed for the assisting player (P 4 0.18). Straight
sprints of the scoring player were predominantly
(75%) conducted without the ball (P 5 0.001). In
contrast, the assisting player sprinted most frequently
(64%) with the ball (P ¼ 0.003, Figure 2). The
scoring player conducted most powerful actions
without an opponent (P ¼ 0.002) whereas this
was not the case for the assisting player (P ¼ 0.62,
Table II).
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
defenders scored mostly after a jump (58%), strikers
and midfielders scored more often after a straight
sprint (62 and 70%, respectively, Table III). When
strikers assisted a goal this was more often conducted
after a powerful action compared to defenders
(P ¼ 0.006) and midfielders (P 5 0.001, Figure 3).
The most frequent powerful action while assisting
a goal was a straight sprint (65 to 69% of all powerful
actions) for all playing positions (Table III).
Discussion
The present study aimed to describe the frequency of
powerful actions when scoring or assisting a goal in
professional football. In 83% of all goals during the
second half of the season 2007/08 in the German
Bundesliga at least one powerful action of the scoring
or assisting player was observed. The present results
show that straight sprints are the most dominant
powerful action in decisive offensive situations in
elite football. Change-in-direction sprints, jumps and
rotations seem to be of less importance when scoring
a goal. Whereas most powerful actions of the scoring
player (81%) were conducted without the ball
(i.e. one-touch actions), this was equally distributed
for the assisting player (50% direct play and 50%
dribbling).
The main result of this study is that most goals
were preceded by a powerful action. In particular,
this was predominantly a straight sprint by either the
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628
O. Faude et al.
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
scoring player
with opponent
without opponent
assisting player
with opponent
without opponent
CinD sprint
jump
rotation
sum
n
%
n
%
n
%
n
%
n
%
52*
109*
19.8
41.6
15
7
5.7
2.7
33
24
12.6
9.2
6*
16*
2.3
6.1
106*
156*
40.5
59.5
54*
83*
26.3
40.5
15*
3*
7.3
1.5
13
9
6.3
4.4
17
11
8.3
5.4
99
106
48.3
51.7
* ¼ values with and without opponent significantly different. CinD ¼ change-in-direction.
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Explosive actions in goal situations in football
629
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
related to playing position
straight
sprint
n
scoring player
defender
12
midfielder 62
striker
87
assisting player
defender
21
midfielder 63
striker
53
%
CinD
sprint
n
%
jump
n
%
rotation
n
%
sum
n
%
4.6
23.7
33.2
1 0.4
6 2.3
15 5.7
19 7.3
12 4.6
26 9.9
1 0.4
9 3.4
12 4.6
33 12.6
89 34.0
140 53.4
10.2
30.7
25.9
2 1.0
11 5.4
5 2.4
7
7
8
2 1.0
10 4.9
16 7.8
32
91
82
3.4
3.4
3.9
15.6
44.4
40.0
CinD ¼ change-in-direction.
scoring or the assisting player. Straight sprinting
enables a player to escape from his opponent and/or
to reach a free zone to shoot on the goal or to give a
decisive pass. The straight line is the shortest possible
connection between two points and, thus, it seems
plausible that straight sprinting enables the attacker
to arrive at an anticipated promising position in the
shortest possible time. Thus, the time to accurately
defend the situation might be too short for the
opposing player.
Goals were mostly scored by strikers after a
straight sprint without the ball. Sprinting with the
ball may slow down the movement and, hence, the
striker does not have the advantage described above.
This is not surprising when considering that only 1.2
to 2.4% of the running distance in match play is
covered with the ball (Di Salvo et al., 2007).
Similarly, fighting against an opponent may also
slow down velocity and, thus, it is also plausible that
most successful explosive actions of the scorer were
conducted without an opponent. In contrast, midfielders assisted most goals while sprinting with the
ball. This finding corresponds to the observation that
midfielders cover a higher running distance with the
ball compared to other playing positions (Di Salvo
et al., 2007). It might be speculated that it is
necessary to perform a short sprint with the ball to
reach an appropriate position to pass the ball to the
best positioned teammate.
Interestingly, Tenga, Holme, Ronglan, and Bahr
(2010a) observed in 163 matches of the male
Norwegian professional league that success (scoring
a goal) was higher when teams conducted counterattacks compared to elaborate attacks. Therefore,
the importance of very high-intensity running and
sprinting, which might be assumed more relevant in
counterattack situations, seems plausible from a
tactical point of view. Another interesting finding in
this regard is that less successful teams (bottom five
of the final league standing) covered more highintensity running distance compared to successful
teams (top five) (Di Salvo, Gregson, Atkinson,
Tordoff, & Drust, 2009). This difference was
mainly due to more high-intensity running without
ball possession and, thus, probably due to the
attempts to regain the ball. However, the number of
leading sprints (sprints of more than 0.5 s duration)
was significantly higher in successful teams. Effect
sizes were small and, thus, the practical relevance
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630
O. Faude et al.
of this finding should be further substantiated.
Nevertheless, the relationship between tactical
behaviour, physical abilities of players and team
success might represent an interesting topic for
future research.
The present findings are also in line with observations that, in particular, strikers together with wing
midfielders and fullbacks are the playing positions
showing the greatest running distances while sprinting during match play (Di Salvo et al., 2007;
Rampinini, Coutts, Castagna, Sassi, & Impellizzeri,
2007b). Sprinting activities vary considerably (3 to
40 bursts of high intensity activity, 423 km h71,
per match) with the above mentioned positions
conducting more bursts compared to central defenders and central midfielders (Di Salvo et al., 2007).
Considering the importance of straight sprints in
successful match situations, a high number of sprints
of strikers may enhance their chance of scoring a
goal. Moreover, it might be speculated that wing
midfielders are frequently involved in sprint duels
with the opposing fullbacks prior to assisting a goal.
However, from the present results no conclusive
statement in this regard is possible as we did not
distinguish between central and external midfield
positions.
The importance of straight sprinting in goal
situations can have implications for training and
competition. With respect to tactical decision making
the present findings may influence the selection of
players or the preferred playing strategy. Furthermore, it has been shown that sprint times can be
improved by specific training regimens (Stolen et al.,
2005) with different effects of straight and changein-direction sprint training on the respective sprint
ability (Young et al., 2001). Considering the
relevance of straight sprinting in decisive situations,
it is recommended that fitness training and testing
should include such sprints.
Other powerful actions seem to be of minor
importance for scoring a goal in high level football.
Jumping seems relevant when goals are scored
through headers after crosses or standards. This is
particularly relevant for defenders when scoring a
goal. Change-in-direction sprints seldom precede a
goal. It might be speculated that changing direction
needs time and, thus, defenders are able to arrive at
an appropriate defending position and have more
time left to successfully interfere.
Possibly, change-in-direction sprints, jumps and
rotations are of greater importance in decisive
defensive situations when players must react to the
attacking players’ behaviour. However, the analysis
of defensive situations was not addressed in
the present study and such an approach might be
limited because objective assessment of definitely
decisive defensive situations seems complicated.
Nevertheless, this may be an interesting topic for
future research, too.
Study limitations
Obviously, the main limitation of the present study is
the use of visual video inspection to assess different
powerful actions when scoring a goal. This approach
might be prone to subjective bias and, thus, critical
evaluation of inter-observer consistency using kappa
statistics has been recently proposed (Barris &
Button, 2008; Drust, Atkinson, & Reilly, 2007).
Kappa coefficients for inter- and intra-observer
reliability in the present study indicated substantial
to almost perfect agreement for all analysed categories (Landis & Koch, 1977). There was only a low
number of goals which were preceded by combined
actions (about 9% of all goals) and selected for
reliability analyses. Thus, we refrained from calculating kappa coefficients for those combined actions.
However, it is unlikely that this affected the overall
results and conclusions of the present study.
Alternatively, the use of modern video tracking
systems might have allowed more objective evaluation of running distances and velocities (Carling,
Bloomfield, Nelsen, & Reilly, 2008; Drust et al.,
2007). Such an approach, however, would have
reduced the number of goals remaining for analyses
because only a few stadiums in Germany are
equipped with such systems. In addition, available
systems show considerable variability when assessing
running distances (Randers et al., 2010) and, thus,
it would be necessary to use the same system in all
stadiums to allow valid comparisons. Furthermore,
despite recent technical advances, automated player
tracking and the analyses of single actions like jumps,
rotations and change-in-direction sprints still need
manual correction and analysis (Barris & Button,
2008) and, thus, altogether it seems questionable
whether such an approach might have been really
advantageous.
In the present study, scored goals have been used
as the ultimate objective measure of success in
football. Such an approach has been criticised as
goals only account for about 1% of all ball possessions in high level football (Pollard & Reep, 1997;
Tenga et al., 2010b). Thus, when using goals as
criterion measures for decisive situations in football
large samples are required for meaningful analyses.
Alternatively, broader measures such as scoring
opportunities, shots on goal, or entry in the last
third of the pitch have been proposed (Tenga et al.,
2010b). However, such an approach may complicate
an objective assessment of decisive situations in
football. For instance, it might be speculated
that most of those situations were not successful
because the conducted physical activities were not
Explosive actions in goal situations in football
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appropriate to score a goal and, thus, these situations
are not representative for decisive situations in
football. Therefore, the use of goals as ultimate
measures of decisive situations seems justified.
Furthermore, it should be considered that the
present data were obtained during one half of a
season in a male professional league of one European
country. Although the analysed league is among the
best in the world, a transfer of the results to other
leagues or levels of play (e.g. with other cultural
backgrounds or to female or junior football) should
be done with care. Such analyses might be regarded
as interesting areas for future studies.
Conclusion and future perspectives
The results of the present study show that power and
speed abilities are important in decisive situations in
professional football. In particular, straight sprinting
is the most dominant action when scoring goals.
Thus, straight sprinting should be considered in
fitness testing and training.
Other power abilities which have been shown to be
of minor importance when scoring goals (rotations,
change-of-direction sprints or jumps) may be more
important in defensive situations where players must
react to the opponents’ behaviour. However, this
issue is an interesting content for future research.
In addition, the relationship of physical activities and
tactical behaviour remains a promising topic for
further studies. Moreover, a comparison between
successful and unsuccessful shots, an analysis with
regard to the zones where shots were taken as well as
the influence of the time of the match (with special
regard to fatigue) or the league standing (particularly
towards the end of the season) might be interesting
areas for future investigations. The present data may
contribute to improved tactical decision making,
selection of players, and appropriate modifications in
strength and conditioning programmes and fitness
testing.
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