Weekly external load periodization and positional match-play demands during a professional football pre-season A GPS-based study
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GPS microtechnology is now routine in professional football for tracking external training and match load, yet reports that integrate training periodization, positional match demands and body-composition monitoring within one pre-season squad remain rare outside major European leagues. This study described weekly external training load across a seven-week professional pre-season, compared positional running demands across pre-season friendly matches—with particular attention to whether competitive high-intensity profiles persist under rotational conditions—and monitored body mass and body fat percentage. Data came from the GPS system (Catapult Sports) of a Bulgarian First League club: 40 training sessions, 9 friendly matches (134 player-match observations, 28 players, five positions) and seven body-composition assessments (34 players). Weekly training and high-speed running distance varied descriptively but not significantly between weeks (Kruskal-Wallis, p = .083). During matches, relative distance, high-speed running, sprint distance, maximal velocity, sprint efforts and acceleration/deceleration efforts differed by position (p ≤ .030), with central defenders showing the lowest high-intensity output and full-backs/wide players the greatest sprint demands—profiles that closely matched those reported for competitive matches. Body mass and body fat percentage stayed stable (p = .961). These club-specific findings support the use of pre-season friendlies as an ecologically valid reference for position-specific conditioning from the earliest weeks of preparation and suggest that a single pre-season block may not shift body composition in already lean professional players.
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