IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v18y2021i21p11688-d673937.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Performance of Professional Soccer Players before and after COVID-19 Infection; Observational Study with an Emphasis on Graduated Return to Play

Author

Listed:
  • Anamarija Jurcev Savicevic

    (Teaching Institute of Public Health of Split Dalmatian County, 21000 Split, Croatia
    Department of Health Studies, University of Split, 21000 Split, Croatia)

  • Jasna Nincevic

    (Teaching Institute of Public Health of Split Dalmatian County, 21000 Split, Croatia)

  • Sime Versic

    (Faculty of Kinesiology, University of Split, 21000 Split, Croatia
    HNK Hajduk Split, 21000 Split, Croatia)

  • Sarah Cuschieri

    (Faculty of Medicine & Surgery, University of Malta, MSD 2080 Msida, Malta)

  • Ante Bandalovic

    (HNK Hajduk Split, 21000 Split, Croatia
    Department of Orthopedics and Traumatology, University Hospital Split, Surgery Clinic, 21000 Split, Croatia)

  • Ante Turic

    (HNK Hajduk Split, 21000 Split, Croatia)

  • Boris Becir

    (HNK Hajduk Split, 21000 Split, Croatia)

  • Toni Modric

    (Faculty of Kinesiology, University of Split, 21000 Split, Croatia)

  • Damir Sekulic

    (Faculty of Kinesiology, University of Split, 21000 Split, Croatia)

Abstract

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in sport has been the subject of numerous studies over the past two years. However, knowledge about the direct impact of COVID-19 infection on the performance of athletes is limited, and the importance of studies on this topic is crucial during the current pandemic era. This study aimed to evaluate the changes in the match running performance (MRP) of professional soccer players that occurred as a result of COVID-19 infection after fulfilling all of the prerequisites for a safe return to play (RTP). The participants were 47 professional soccer players from a team which competed in first Croatian division (21.6 years old on average) during the 2020/21 season. The total sample was divided into two subgroups based on the results of a PCR test for COVID-19, where 31 players tested positive (infected) and 16 tested negative. We observed the PCR test results (positive vs. negative PCR), the number of days needed to return to the team, number of days needed to RTP after quarantine and isolation, and MRP (10 variables measured by a global positioning system). The number of days where the infected players were not included in the team ranged from 7 to 51 (Median: 12). Significant pre- to post-COVID differences in MRP for infected players were only found for high-intensity accelerations and high-intensity decelerations ( t -test = 2.11 and 2.13, respectively; p < 0.05, moderate effect size differences), with poorer performance in the post-COVID period. Since a decrease of the MRP as a result of COVID-19 infection was only noted in two variables, we can highlight appropriateness of the applied RTP. However, further adaptations and improvements of the RTP are needed with regard to high-intensity activities.

Suggested Citation

  • Anamarija Jurcev Savicevic & Jasna Nincevic & Sime Versic & Sarah Cuschieri & Ante Bandalovic & Ante Turic & Boris Becir & Toni Modric & Damir Sekulic, 2021. "Performance of Professional Soccer Players before and after COVID-19 Infection; Observational Study with an Emphasis on Graduated Return to Play," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(21), pages 1-14, November.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:21:p:11688-:d:673937
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/21/11688/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/21/11688/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Elise Blandenier & Zahra Habibi & Timokleia Kousi & Paolo Sestito & Antoine Flahault & Liudmila Rozanova, 2020. "Initial COVID-19 Outbreak: An Epidemiological and Socioeconomic Case Review of Iran," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(24), pages 1-13, December.
    2. Filipe Manuel Clemente & Alireza Rabbani & Daniele Conte & Daniel Castillo & José Afonso & Cain Craig Truman Clark & Pantelis Theodoros Nikolaidis & Thomas Rosemann & Beat Knechtle, 2019. "Training/Match External Load Ratios in Professional Soccer Players: A Full-Season Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(17), pages 1-11, August.
    3. Tagrid Lemenager & Miriam Neissner & Anne Koopmann & Iris Reinhard & Ekaterini Georgiadou & Astrid Müller & Falk Kiefer & Thomas Hillemacher, 2020. "COVID-19 Lockdown Restrictions and Online Media Consumption in Germany," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(1), pages 1-13, December.
    4. Amel Tayech & Mohamed Arbi Mejri & Issam Makhlouf & Ameni Mathlouthi & David G. Behm & Anis Chaouachi, 2020. "Second Wave of COVID-19 Global Pandemic and Athletes’ Confinement: Recommendations to Better Manage and Optimize the Modified Lifestyle," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(22), pages 1-12, November.
    5. Richard Hauer & Antonio Tessitore & Reinhard Knaus & Harald Tschan, 2020. "Lacrosse Athletes Load and Recovery Monitoring: Comparison between Objective and Subjective Methods," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(9), pages 1-11, May.
    6. Toni Modric & Sime Versic & Damir Sekulic & Silvester Liposek, 2019. "Analysis of the Association between Running Performance and Game Performance Indicators in Professional Soccer Players," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(20), pages 1-13, October.
    7. Łukasz Radzimiński & Alexis Padrón-Cabo & Marek Konefał & Paweł Chmura & Andrzej Szwarc & Zbigniew Jastrzębski, 2021. "The Influence of COVID-19 Pandemic Lockdown on the Physical Performance of Professional Soccer Players: An Example of German and Polish Leagues," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(16), pages 1-11, August.
    8. Aleksandra Milovancev & Jovana Avakumovic & Nemanja Lakicevic & Valdemar Stajer & Darinka Korovljev & Nikola Todorovic & Antonino Bianco & Nebojsa Maksimovic & Sergej Ostojic & Patrik Drid, 2021. "Cardiorespiratory Fitness in Volleyball Athletes Following a COVID-19 Infection: A Cross-Sectional Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(8), pages 1-8, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jasna Nincevic & Anamarija Jurcev-Savicevic & Sime Versic & Toni Modric & Ante Turic & Ante Bandalovic & Boris Becir & Marijana Mijakovic & Ivana Bocina & Damir Sekulic, 2023. "How Different Predominant SARS-CoV-2 Variants of Concern Affected Clinical Patterns and Performances of Infected Professional Players during Two Soccer Seasons: An Observational Study from Split, Croa," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(3), pages 1-19, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Damir Sekulic & Sime Versic & Andrew Decelis & Jose Castro-Piñero & Dejan Javorac & Goran Dimitric & Kemal Idrizovic & Igor Jukic & Toni Modric, 2021. "The Effect of the COVID-19 Lockdown on the Position-Specific Match Running Performance of Professional Football Players; Preliminary Observational Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(22), pages 1-9, November.
    2. Alfonso Castillo-Rodríguez & Francisco Javier Cano-Cáceres & António Figueiredo & José Carlos Fernández-García, 2020. "Train Like You Compete? Physical and Physiological Responses on Semi-Professional Soccer Players," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(3), pages 1-9, January.
    3. Takafumi Nishioka & Hideki Hasunuma & Masumi Okuda & Naoko Taniguchi & Tetsuro Fujino & Hideki Shimomura & Yasuhiko Tanaka & Masayuki Shima & Yasuhiro Takeshima & Japan Environment and Children’s Stud, 2022. "Effects of Screen Viewing Time on Sleep Duration and Bedtime in Children Aged 1 and 3 Years: Japan Environment and Children’s Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(7), pages 1-13, March.
    4. Amel Tayech & Mohamed Arbi Mejri & Issam Makhlouf & Ameni Mathlouthi & David G. Behm & Anis Chaouachi, 2021. "Correction: Tayech, A., et al. Second Wave of COVID-19 Global Pandemic and Athletes’ Confinement: Recommendations to Better Manage and Optimize the Modified Lifestyle. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Hea," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(6), pages 1-1, March.
    5. Ante Krolo & Barbara Gilic & Nikola Foretic & Haris Pojskic & Raouf Hammami & Miodrag Spasic & Ognjen Uljevic & Sime Versic & Damir Sekulic, 2020. "Agility Testing in Youth Football (Soccer)Players; Evaluating Reliability, Validity, and Correlates of Newly Developed Testing Protocols," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(1), pages 1-15, January.
    6. Ana Paula Oliveira & Joana Rita Nobre & Henrique Luis & Luis Soares Luis & Lara Guedes Pinho & Núria Albacar-Riobóo & Carlos Sequeira, 2022. "Social Media Use and Its Association with Mental Health and Internet Addiction among Portuguese Higher Education Students during COVID-19 Confinement," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(1), pages 1-13, December.
    7. Maria Anna Donati & Silvia Cabrini & Daniela Capitanucci & Caterina Primi & Roberta Smaniotto & Maurizio Avanzi & Eleonora Quadrelli & Giovanna Bielli & Alfredo Casini & Alessandra Roaro, 2021. "Being a Gambler during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Study with Italian Patients and the Effects of Reduced Exposition," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(2), pages 1-19, January.
    8. João Lourenço & Élvio Rúbio Gouveia & Hugo Sarmento & Andreas Ihle & Tiago Ribeiro & Ricardo Henriques & Francisco Martins & Cíntia França & Ricardo Maia Ferreira & Luís Fernandes & Pedro Teques & Dan, 2023. "Relationship between Objective and Subjective Fatigue Monitoring Tests in Professional Soccer," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(2), pages 1-11, January.
    9. José Luis Arjol-Serrano & Miguel Lampre & Adrián Díez & Daniel Castillo & Fernando Sanz-López & Demetrio Lozano, 2021. "The Influence of Playing Formation on Physical Demands and Technical-Tactical Actions According to Playing Positions in an Elite Soccer Team," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(8), pages 1-12, April.
    10. Michał Zacharko & Robert Cichowicz & Marcin Andrzejewski & Paweł Chmura & Edward Kowalczuk & Jan Chmura & Marek Konefał, 2021. "Air Pollutants Reduce the Physical Activity of Professional Soccer Players," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(24), pages 1-10, December.
    11. John D. Ditekemena & Hypolite M. Mavoko & Michael Obimpeh & Stijn Van Hees & Joseph Nelson Siewe Fodjo & Dalau M. Nkamba & Antoinette Tshefu & Wim Van Damme & Jean Jacques Muyembe & Robert Colebunders, 2021. "Adherence to COVID-19 Prevention Measures in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Results of Two Consecutive Online Surveys," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(5), pages 1-12, March.
    12. Souhail Hermassi & El Ghali Bouhafs & Nicola Luigi Bragazzi & Shiro Ichimura & Khaled E. Alsharji & Lawrence D. Hayes & René Schwesig, 2021. "Effects of Home Confinement on the Intensity of Physical Activity during the COVID-19 Outbreak in Team Handball According to Country, Gender, Competition Level, and Playing Position: A Worldwide Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(8), pages 1-21, April.
    13. Konstantin Warneke & Andreas Konrad & Michael Keiner & Astrid Zech & Masatoshi Nakamura & Martin Hillebrecht & David G. Behm, 2022. "Using Daily Stretching to Counteract Performance Decreases as a Result of Reduced Physical Activity—A Controlled Trial," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(23), pages 1-14, November.
    14. Felipe Hermosilla-Palma & Juan Francisco Loro-Ferrer & Pablo Merino-Muñoz & Nicolás Gómez-Álvarez & Alejandro Bustamante-Garrido & Hugo Cerda-Kohler & Moacyr Portes-Junior & Esteban Aedo-Muñoz, 2022. "Changes in the Mechanical Properties of the Horizontal Force-Velocity Profile during a Repeated Sprint Test in Professional Soccer Players," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(1), pages 1-9, December.
    15. Sümer Alvurdu & Cihan Baykal & Zeki Akyildiz & Ömer Şenel & Ana Filipa Silva & Daniele Conte & Filipe Manuel Clemente, 2022. "Impact of Prolonged Absence of Organized Training on Body Composition, Neuromuscular Performance, and Aerobic Capacity: A Study in Youth Male Soccer Players Exposed to COVID-19 Lockdown," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(3), pages 1-12, January.
    16. Sabrina Demarie & Emanuele Chirico & Cecilia Bratta & Cristina Cortis, 2022. "Puberal and Adolescent Horse Riders’ Fitness during the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Effects of Training Restrictions on Health-Related and Functional Motor Abilities," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(11), pages 1-13, May.
    17. Eduard Bezuglov & Oleg Talibov & Vladimir Khaitin & Bekzhan Pirmakhanov & Zbigniew Waśkiewicz & Mikhail Butovskiy & Ryland Morgans, 2021. "Running Performance during the Holy Month of Ramadan in Elite Professional Adult Soccer Players in Russia," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(21), pages 1-8, November.
    18. Michał Zacharko & Robert Cichowicz & Adam Depta & Paweł Chmura & Marek Konefał, 2022. "High Levels of PM10 Reduce the Physical Activity of Professional Soccer Players," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(1), pages 1-9, December.
    19. Jorge Lorenzo Calvo & Miriam Granado-Peinado & Alfonso de la Rubia & Diego Muriarte & Alberto Lorenzo & Daniel Mon-López, 2021. "Psychological States and Training Habits during the COVID-19 Pandemic Lockdown in Spanish Basketball Athletes," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(17), pages 1-13, August.
    20. Stefanos Boutios & Giovanni Fiorilli & Andrea Buonsenso & Panagiotis Daniilidis & Marco Centorbi & Mariano Intrieri & Alessandra di Cagno, 2021. "The Impact of Age, Gender and Technical Experience on Three Motor Coordination Skills in Children Practicing Taekwondo," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(11), pages 1-11, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:21:p:11688-:d:673937. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.