Using tracking data from the full 2025/26 LALIGA EA SPORTS season, we compared 225 players with themselves as starters and substitutes. Players produced more high-speed running per minute from the bench, and intensity increased further as playing exposure shortened. The pattern is consistent with pacing:...
A player can return to competition with apparently normal high-speed running yet remain markedly underexposed to speeds close to his own maximum. Our new study in professional LALIGA footballers shows how absolute thresholds can conceal sprint reductions for up to 14 matches after hamstring injury—and...
Five extra minutes of effective playing time can add almost 3 km of collective running. But that physical cost is far from identical across LALIGA teams—and high-speed running tells a very different story. This analysis explores how Effective Playing Time shapes match demands, why possession...
Around 82% of movement time and 72% of total distance in elite football occur below 14 km/h. The difference between these two figures reveals not only how players move, but also where much of football performance is actually produced. High-speed running and sprinting dominate many discussions...
Why physical performance in football cannot be understood without tactical context For years, football has interpreted running metrics primarily as indicators of physical capacity. Total distance, high-speed running, sprint distance and maximum speed are routinely used to describe performance. These variables are valuable, but they can create...
Return to competition protocolDescarga A player can be medically cleared, train with the squad, be available for selection and even play minutes… while still not being back to his real competitive level. That is the starting point of this protocol. The key question is not simply: Can he play? The...