Small-sided games (ssg) internal and external load on different pitch sizes in young elite women football players
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
The present study aimed to assess and compare the internal and external training loads experienced by elite young female football players during small-sided games (SSGs) conducted on two different pitch sizes. Eight athletes (age: 19.6 ± 3.7 years) from a top-tier Greek women’s football team participated in two training sessions and one official match. GPS tracking and heart rate monitoring were used to collect data on total distance, speed zones, sprint count, maximum speed, and heart rate distribution across five intensity zones. Two SSG formats (4v4) were implemented: one on a 20×30 m pitch (75 m²/player) and one on a 30×40 m pitch (150 m²/player), each consisting of four 4-minute bouts with 2-minute passive recovery. The results revealed no significant differences in internal load (heart rate responses) between the two pitch sizes. However, external load metrics varied notably: the smaller pitch induced more frequent accelerations and decelerations (p < .05), while the larger pitch resulted in longer total distances and more sprints (p < .05). These findings highlight the influence of pitch size on movement demands, with smaller areas favouring anaerobic, change-of-direction actions and larger areas promoting mostly aerobic and high-speed activities. The study emphasizes the effectiveness of SSGs in conditioning programs and supports their role in developing both aerobic and anaerobic fitness within realistic game contexts. The application of GPS technology enabled precise workload quantification, offering valuable insights for individualized training design. Importantly, this research addresses a gap in the literature regarding elite young women footballers, providing practical guidance for coaches aiming to optimize performance and minimize injury risk through targeted SSG configurations.
Downloads
Article Details
Section
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Each author warrants that his or her submission to the Work is original and that he or she has full power to enter into this agreement. Neither this Work nor a similar work has been published elsewhere in any language nor shall be submitted for publication elsewhere while under consideration by Journal of Human Sport and Exercise (JHSE). Each author also accepts that the JHSE will not be held legally responsible for any claims of compensation.
Authors wishing to include figures or text passages that have already been published elsewhere are required to obtain permission from the copyright holder(s) and to include evidence that such permission has been granted when submitting their papers. Any material received without such evidence will be assumed to originate from the authors.
Please include at the end of the acknowledgements a declaration that the experiments comply with the current laws of the country in which they were performed. The editors reserve the right to reject manuscripts that do not comply with the abovementioned requirements. The author(s) will be held responsible for false statements or failure to fulfill the above-mentioned requirements.
This title is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).
You are free to:
Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format.
Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material.
The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms.
Under the following terms:
-
Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
-
NonCommercial — You may not use the material for commercial purposes.
-
ShareAlike — If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same license as the original.
- No additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.
Notices:
- You do not have to comply with the license for elements of the material in the public domain or where your use is permitted by an applicable exception or limitation.
- No warranties are given. The license may not give you all of the permissions necessary for your intended use. For example, other rights such as publicity, privacy, or moral rights may limit how you use the material.
How to Cite
References
Aguiar, M. V., Botelho, G. M., Gonçalves, B. S., & Sampaio, J. E. (2013). Physiological responses and activity profiles of football small-sided games. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 27(5), 1287-1294. https://doi.org/10.1519/JSC.0b013e318267a35c
Beenham, M., Barron, D. J., Fry, J., Hurst, H. H., Figueirdo, A., & Atkins, S. (2017). A comparison of GPS workload demands in match play and small-sided games by the positional role in youth soccer. Journal of human kinetics, 57, 129. https://doi.org/10.1515/hukin-2017-0054
Casamichana, D., Castellano, J., & Castagna, C. (2012). Comparing the physical demands of friendly matches and small-sided games in semiprofessional soccer players. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 26(3), 837-843. https://doi.org/10.1519/JSC.0b013e31822a61cf
Castellano, J., Casamichana, D., & Dellal, A. (2013). Influence of game format and number of players on heart rate responses and physical demands in small-sided soccer games. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 27(5), 1295-1303. https://doi.org/10.1519/JSC.0b013e318267a5d1
Ehrmann, F. E., Duncan, C. S., Sindhusake, D., Franzsen, W. N., & Greene, D. A. (2016). GPS and injury prevention in professional soccer. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 30(2), 360-367. https://doi.org/10.1519/JSC.0000000000001093
Francini, L., Rampinini, E., Bosio, A., Connolly, D., Carlomagno, D., & Castagna, C. (2019). Association between match activity, endurance levels and maturity in youth football players. International journal of sports medicine, 40(09), 576-584. https://doi.org/10.1055/a-0938-5431
Gómez-Carmona, C. D., Gamonales, J. M., Pino-Ortega, J., & Ibáñez, S. J. (2018). Comparative analysis of load profile between small-sided games and official matches in youth soccer players. Sports, 6(4), 173. https://doi.org/10.3390/sports6040173
Halouani, J., Chtourou, H., Gabbett, T., Chaouachi, A., & Chamari, K. (2014). Small-sided games in team sports training: a brief review. The journal of strength & conditioning research, 28(12), 3594-3618. https://doi.org/10.1519/JSC.0000000000000564
Hill-Haas, S. V., Dawson, B., Impellizzeri, F. M., & Coutts, A. J. (2011). Physiology of small-sided games training in football: a systematic review. Sports medicine, 41, 199-220. https://doi.org/10.2165/11539740-000000000-00000
Hodgson, C., Akenhead, R., & Thomas, K. (201). Time-motion analysis of acceleration demands of 4v4 small-sided soccer games played on different pitch sizes. Human movement science, 33, 25-32. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.humov.2013.12.002
Köklü, Y., Albayrak, M., Keysan, H., Alemdaroğlu, U., & Dellal, A. (2013). Improvement of the physical conditioning of young soccer players by playing small-sided games on different pitch size-special reference to physiological responses. Kinesiology, 45(1.), 41-47.
López-Fernández, J., Sánchez-Sánchez, J., Gallardo, L., & García-Unanue, J. (2017). Metabolic power of female footballers in various small-sided games with different pitch surfaces and sizes. Sports, 5(2), 24. https://doi.org/10.3390/sports5020024
Mara, J. K., Thompson, K. G., & Pumpa, K. L. (2016). Physical and physiological characteristics of various-sided games in elite women's soccer. International journal of sports physiology and performance, 11(7), 953-958. https://doi.org/10.1123/IJSPP.2015-0087
Martínez-Lagunas, V., Niessen, M., & Hartmann, U. (2014). Women's football: Player characteristics and demands of the game. Journal of Sport and Health Science, 3(4), 258-272. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jshs.2014.10.001
Nunes, N. A., Goncalves, B., Coutinho, D., Nakamura, F. Y., & Travassos, B. (2021). How playing area dimension and number of players constrain football performance during unbalanced ball possession games. International Journal of Sports Science & Coaching, 16(2), 334-343. https://doi.org/10.1177/1747954120966416
Ravé, G., Granacher, U., Boullosa, D., Hackney, A. C., & Zouhal, H. (2020). How to use global positioning systems (GPS) data to monitor training load in the "real world" of elite soccer. Frontiers in physiology, 11, 944. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2020.00944
Scott, D., Haigh, J., & Lovell, R. (2020). Physical characteristics and match performances in women's international versus domestic-level football players: a 2-year, league-wide study. Science and medicine in football, 4(3), 211-215. https://doi.org/10.1080/24733938.2020.1745265
Strauss, A., Sparks, M., & Pienaar, C. (2019). The use of GPS analysis to quantify the internal and external match demands of semi-elite level female soccer players during a tournament. Journal of sports science & medicine, 18(1), 73.