The effect of body composition on match physical performance in highly trained male football players

Abstract

The aim of this study was to estimate the effect of body composition on match physical performance in highly trained male football players. For this purpose, body composition and match physical performance were collected over a five-month period from a Norwegian men´s team playing in the top division during the 2021 season. Dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) was used to collect information regarding the players´ body fat percentage [BF%] and lean muscle mass [LMM], while ZXY Sport Tracking system was used to collect match physical performance as total distance [TD], high intensity running [HIR], sprint distance [SpD], max speed and acceleration [ACC]. 15 players with mean (standard deviation) age, weight, and height of 24.8 (2.9) years, 77.4 (8.0) kg, and 181.7 (7.2) cm, constituted the sample. Due to missing observations, analysis was done both for complete and imputed cases, with the full dataset containing 62 observations. Linear-mixed modeling was used to estimate the effect of LMM and BF%, adjusted for playing position, on match physical performance. The largest associations were found between BF% and TD and between LMM and max speed, respectively. A one standard deviation increase in BF% decreased the relative total distance covered during match-play by ~0.3 standard deviations, while a one standard deviation increase in LMM increased max speed by ~0.3 standard deviations. However, the confidence intervals for all examined associations were wide, and no significant findings were found. Based on the results from this study, the effect of body composition on match physical performance is likely trivial compared to playing position.