ArticleJournal of human kinetics2020
The Use of Small-Sided Games as an Aerobic Fitness Assessment Supplement Within Elite Level Professional Soccer.
Article in Journal of human kinetics, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Assessment of Aerobic Fitness and Repeated Sprint Ability in Elite Male Soccer: A Systematic Review of Test Protocols Used in Practice and Research.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2025Pooled it
- Submaximal Fitness Test in Team Sports: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Exercise Heart Rate Measurement Properties.Sports medicine - open · 2023Pooled it
- Quantifying Exposure and Intra-Individual Reliability of High-Speed and Sprint Running During Sided-Games Training in Soccer Players: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2023Pooled it
- The Quantification of Acceleration Events in Elite Team Sport: a Systematic Review.Sports medicine - open · 2021Pooled it
- Physiological determinants of heart rate responses and bout-to-bout stability during 2v2 and 4v4 small-sided games in football players.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Effects of Intermittent Versus Continuous Small-Sided Games on Athletic Performance in Male Youth Soccer Players: A Pilot Study.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Possession or position games: What is the key in soccer?Biology of sport · 2024Article
- Higher final speed in 30-15 intermittent fitness tests correlates with soccer's locomotor demands, not heart rate responses in small-sided soccer games.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Effect of interval and continuous small-sided games training on the bio-motor abilities of young soccer players: a comparative study.BMC sports science, medicine & rehabilitation · 2023Article
- Internal and External Loads of Young Elite Soccer Players during Defensive Small-Sided Games.Journal of human kinetics · 2023Article
- External Workloads Vary by Position and Game Result in US-based Professional Soccer Players.International journal of exercise science · 2023Article
- The Relationship Among Acceleration, Deceleration and Changes of Direction in Repeated Small Sided Games.Journal of human kinetics · 2022Article
- Effects of a small-sided games training program in youth male soccer players: variations of the locomotor profile while interacting with baseline level and with the accumulated load.BMC sports science, medicine & rehabilitation · 2022Article
- Submaximal Fitness Tests in Team Sports: A Theoretical Framework for Evaluating Physiological State.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2022Review
- External Workload Compared Between Competitive and Non-Competitive Matches for Professional Male Soccer Players.Journal of human kinetics · 2022Article
- Physiological and locomotor demands during small-sided games are related to match demands and physical fitness? A study conducted on youth soccer players.BMC sports science, medicine & rehabilitation · 2022Article
- Training load responses to football game profile-based training (GPBT) formats: effects of locomotive demands manipulation.Biology of sport · 2022Article
- Exploration of the Age-Category Soccer Performance Effects During Ball Possession Small-Sided Games.Journal of human kinetics · 2021Article
- Effects of Three Preseason Training Programs on Speed, Change-of-Direction, and Endurance in Recreationally Trained Soccer Players.Frontiers in physiology · 2021Article
- Relationships Between Aerobic Performance, Hemoglobin Levels, and Training Load During Small-Sided Games: A Study in Professional Soccer Players.Frontiers in physiology · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The purpose of this investigation was to quantify the association between 5 vs. 5 small sided games (SSG) running performance and physiological performance during the Yo-YoIR1 test to ascertain the utility of SSGs as a potential fitness test modality within elite professional soccer players. Twenty-three (n = 23) elite male professional soccer players (mean ± SD age 25.3 ± 3.1 yrs, mass: 76 ± 9 kg, height: 176 ± 9 cm) were assessed. Players completed an intermittent aerobic fitness test (Yo-YoIR1) and a 5 vs. 5 SSGs protocol for the purpose of the study. During all SSGs players wore GPS (Statsports 10-Hz, Viper Pod, Newry, Northern Ireland) and HR monitors (Polar, Oy Kemple, Finland) with these measures related to Yo-YoIR1 running performance. Results revealed SSGs running performance (TD; m) and physiological performance (HR) showed the lowest CV% (< 5%), with high speed movements, accelerations and decelerations highlighting higher CV% during SSGs. Possibly small to possibly very large associations were observed for running performance during 5 vs. 5 SSGs and Yo-YoIR1 performance, with negative associations observed between physiological performance during SSG and YoYoIR1 running performance. To conclude, the current study observed how running performance during a standardised 5 vs. 5 SSG protocol within elite soccer cohorts is associated with the Yo-YoIR1 running performance. Given the low CV%, repeatability and large association of global running performance and internal load measures during a 5 vs. 5 SSG with Yo-YoIR1 performance, this particular soccer specific SSG protocol potentially supplements traditional non-sport specific testing assessments.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.