PERFORMANCE OF SOCCER PLAYERS OF DIFFERENT PLAYING POSITIONS AND NACIONALITIES IN A 30-METER SPRINT TEST

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to compare the performance of soccer players of different playing positions and different nationalities on a 30-meter sprint test. The players were instructed to run at full speed. Tests were performed on a Soccer field. The mean speed for 10 (V10), 10-30 (V20) and 30m (V30) were determined. The results of 75 Brazilian players of different positions were compared between themselves and 21 first division professional Brazilian players were compared with 18 J-League Japanese players. No difference was found between the performances of Brazilian players of different positions. The performance of Brazilian players in V20 and V30 (8.69 ± 0.64 and 7.68 ± 0.28m•s-1) was better than that of Japanese players (8.11 ± 0.26 and 7.42 ± 0.22m•s-1; P<0.05). We concluded that playing position does not influence the performance of a 30-m sprint test. Moreover, Brazilian players are faster than Japanese players.