Long-term effects of the 11+ warm-up injury prevention programme on physical performance in adolescent male football players: a cluster-randomised controlled trial

ABSTRACT

This study examined the long-term effects of the 11+ on physical performance in adolescent male football (soccer) players. Eighty-two 14- to 16-year-old male football players (11+ = 42 players, control = 40 players) participated. Teams were randomised to control (CON) and intervention (INT) groups. INT applied the 11+ injury prevention programme for 30 weeks at least twice a week as a warm-up. CON performed their standard warm-up. Motor performance tests were conducted 1 week prior and 1 week after the competition season. We used magnitude-based inferences and linear mixed-effects models to analyse performance test results. INT showed superior results compared to CON in the vertical jump height 7.5% (95%-CI 4.4%, 10.7%), the Bosco 15-s-jump test 7.2% (95%-CI 2.2%, 12.4%), and the Illinois agility test −2.6% (95%-CI −4.1%, −1.1%). Possibly beneficial effects in favour of INT were found in the 9.1 m sprint test −3.1% (95%-CI −6.1%, 0.1%). Possibly harmful effects (i.e. in favour of CON) were observed in the dribbling test 2.8% (95%-CI −0.8%, 6.4%). The 11+ warm-up programme can improve different performance measures in football players. Coaches might implement additional dribbling drills next to the 11+ to achieve improvements observed in dribbling ability when using a regular warm-up programme.

KEYWORDS:

• Soccer
• agility
• balance
• performance
• injury prevention

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the Shahid Beheshti University for the financial support. We specifically would like to thank all participating football clubs, coaches, and players.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This project has been funded by the Shahid Beheshti University.