Dr. López del Campo, Author at Football Innovation Hub

21 Mar Does player age influence match physical performance? A longitudinal four-season analysis in Spanish Soccer LaLiga

Posted at 13:51h in Paper

Introduction In football, age is often associated with experience, tactical awareness, and leadership. Yet, as players mature, questions persist about how much age truly affects physical performance during matches. A large-scale, longitudinal study conducted with LaLiga data across four consecutive seasons (2015/16–2018/19) provides clear evidence: Match running performance...

10 Mar Reduced Match Exposure in the Previous 2 Matches Accounts for Hamstring Muscle Injury Incidence in Professional Football Players

Posted at 12:23h in Paper

Introduction Hamstring injuries remain one of the most frequent and costly problems in professional football. Despite years of prevention research, their incidence continues to rise — about 22% of elite players sustain at least one hamstring injury per season, with an annual increase of over 4%. A...

20 Ene The Five-substitution Option Enhances Teams’ Running Performance at High Speed in Football

Posted at 12:11h in Paper

Introduction When football’s laws temporarily changed during the COVID-19 pandemic to allow five substitutions instead of three, the goal was simple: protect players in an overloaded competition schedule. But beyond injury prevention, did this new rule influence how teams performed on the pitch? A scientific study using...

19 Ene Effect of Increasing the Number of Substitutions on Physical Performance during Periods of Congested Fixtures in Football

Posted at 14:00h in Paper

Plain-English Summary for First-Team Staff This study tracked 66 LaLiga SmartBank matches played in congested weeks (three games in seven days) and analysed 1,077 player reports with Mediacoach. After the five-substitution rule came in, teams used more subs on average (≈2.94 ➜ 4.58 per match). Despite...

09 Dic Match Movement Profiles Differences in Spanish Soccer Competitive Leagues According to Opposition’s Team Ranking: A Comparison Study

Posted at 13:40h in Paper

Plain-English summary with practical takeaways for first-team staff When you face a strong opponent, your team tends to cover more distance with the ball—including more high-speed running with possession (>21 km·h⁻¹). Against weaker opponents, in LaLiga (First Division) teams typically rack up more distance without the...

11 Nov Heatmaps in soccer: Event vs tracking datasets

Posted at 13:36h in Paper

Heatmaps are everywhere in modern football analysis—from coaching staff to TV broadcasts. But how accurate are they, and does it matter whether they come from event data (passes, shots, duels) or tracking data (player positions every second)? This study compared both approaches in 60 LaLiga...

Author: Dr. López del Campo