Typical weekly workload of under 15, under 17, and under 19 elite Portuguese football players

Abstract

This study aims to describe the time–motion and physiological performance profiles of footballers whose ages are under 15 (U15), under 17 (U17), and under 19 (U19) during a typical week of a competitive season. A total of 151 elite Portuguese players U15 (age 14.0 ± 0.2; n = 56), U17 (age 15.8 ± 0.4; n = 66), and U19 (age 17.8 ± 0.6; n = 19) were monitored during 33 training sessions (TSs) (U15 n = 12; U17 n = 11; and U19 n = 10 TSs). The TS data were captured at 15 Hz by global positioning systems devices and divided into post-match (session after the match), prematch (session before the match), and middle week (average of remaining sessions). The U15 middle week showed a higher number of sprints, distance covered in intermediate speed zones, and time spent above 90% HR_max, while the prematch presented a higher distance covered above 18 km · h⁻¹ and time spent below 75% HR_max. In U17, both prematch and post-match data presented lower values than middle-week data in most of the variables. The post-match data in U19 presented higher values of distance covered above 13 km · h⁻¹, body impacts above 10 G, and time spent above 85% HR_max, while middle week showed higher values in body impacts in most of the zones. In addition, the prematch data presented 35% to 100% less values than the middle-week data. Understanding the weekly workload variations according to the competition and the developmental ages of the players can contribute to optimising short- and mid-term planning.

Keywords:

• development ages
• external load
• internal load
• training microcycle
• periodisation

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by the PTDC/DES/098693/2008 project, “Evaluating training and competition in team sports. Aggregating tactical analysis, external and internal workload”. This project was financed by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT).