SynthesisSports health
Effects of Caffeine Supplementation on Physical Performance of Soccer Players: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
Synthesis in Sports health. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers, 7 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 7 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Effects of serotonergic pharmacological manipulation on exercise performance and central fatigue: a systematic review and three-level meta-analysis.Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition · 2026Pooled it
- Effects of different dietary supplements on athletic performance in soccer players: a systematic review and network meta-analysis.Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition · 2025Pooled it
- Effects of Caffeinated Chewing Gum on Exercise Performance and Physiological Responses: A Systematic Review.Nutrients · 2024Pooled it
- Impact of Caffeine Intake Strategies on Heart Rate Variability during Post-Exercise Recovery: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Current cardiology reviews · 2024Pooled it
- Effects of dietary supplements on athletic performance in elite soccer players: a systematic review.Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition · 2023Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Effects of Caffeine andNutrients · 2026Trial
- Trial
- Trial
- Trial
- Caffeine increases performance and leads to a cardioprotective effect during intense exercise in cyclists.Scientific reports · 2021Trial
- Overview of Caffeine Effects on Human Health and Emerging Delivery Strategies.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Acute effect of different doses of caffeinated chewing gum on exercise performance in caffeine-habituated male soccer players.Frontiers in nutrition · 2023Article
- Higher and lower caffeine consumers: exercise performance and biological responses during a simulated soccer-game protocol following caffeine ingestion.European journal of nutrition · 2022Article
- Acute effects of beetroot juice and caffeine co-ingestion during a team-sport-specific intermittent exercise test in semi-professional soccer players: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study.BMC sports science, medicine & rehabilitation · 2022Article
- Nutritional approaches to counter performance constraints in high-level sports competition.Experimental physiology · 2021Review
- New Epidemic?Sports healthArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
contextCaffeine is 1 of the most popular supplements consumed by athletes, and the evidence for improving soccer performance remains limited.
objectiveTo investigate and update the effects (benefits and harms) of caffeine to improve performance on soccer players. DATA SOURCES: Electronic search in Medline (via PubMed), CENTRAL, Embase, SPORTDiscus, and LILACS, from inception to March 28, 2020. STUDY SELECTION: Randomized clinical trials (RCTs) assessing the effects of caffeine on the performance of soccer players. STUDY
designSystematic review with meta-analysis. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level 1. DATA EXTRACTION: Data extraction was conducted independently by 2 authors using a piloted form. We assessed methodological quality (Cochrane risk-of-bias [RoB] table) and the certainty of the evidence (GRADE [Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation] approach).
resultsSixteen RCTs were included. Overall methodological quality was classified as unclear to low risk of bias. When assessing aerobic endurance, meta-analyses did not demonstrate the differences between caffeine and placebo (mean difference [MD], 44.9 m; 95% confidence interval [CI], -77.7 to 167.6). Similarly, no difference was observed during time to fatigue test (MD, 169.8 seconds; 95% CI, -71.8 to 411.6). Considering anaerobic power, meta-analyses also did not find differences for vertical jump (MD, 1.01 cm; 95% CI, -0.68 to 2.69) and repeated sprint tests (MD, -0.02 seconds; 95% CI, -0.09 to 0.04), as well as reaction time agility test (MD, 0.02 seconds; 95% CI, -0.01 to 0.04) and rating of perceived exertion (MD, 0.16 points; 95% CI, -0.55 to 0.87). Regarding safety, a few minor adverse events were reported. Based on the GRADE approach, the certainty of this evidence was classified as very low to low.
conclusionWe found no significant improvement in soccer-related performance with caffeine compared with placebo or no intervention. However, caffeine appears to be safe.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.