Visual function of English Premier League soccer players

ABSTRACT

Purpose: Examine visual function of soccer players of different skill level and playing position.

Methods: Elite players from an English Premier League soccer club (n = 49) and intermediate players (n = 31) completed an assessment on a Nike SPARQ Sensory Station of: static and dynamic visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, accommodative vergence facility, target capture and perception span.

Results: There was no difference between elite and intermediate players for all measures. However, competitive soccer players (elite, intermediate) did exhibit better performance in acuity-based measures of visual function and accommodative vergence compared to a population of healthy non-athletic adults (n = 230). With regards to player position, defensive players showed quicker accommodative vergence facility compared with offensive players.

Conclusion: Visual function of competitive soccer players is superior to non-athletic adults, but does not differentiate the elite and intermediate player. However, defensive players do exhibit faster accommodative vergence than offensive players. We suspect that this particular visual function is advantageous for defenders given the greater demand to continually shift gaze between players located at near and far locations.

KEYWORDS:

• Visual function
• soccer
• elite
• playing position
• accommodative vergence

Practical implications

The superior general visual abilities of soccer players compared to healthy non-athletes may indicate the importance of good vision for this particular sport. Therefore, consideration should be given to the provision of vision support services for prospective soccer players. The differences observed in accommodative-vergence between defensive and offensive players may point to different oculomotor demands imposed by specific player positions.

Acknowledgements

The work was supported by Nike Inc. under Grant J255062 awarded to Prof Simon Bennett.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Responses to the depth perception test could not be analysed due to technical difficulties.

2. It could be relevant to assess some visuomotor abilities in goalkeepers, but here we did not have a sufficient number to form a group (n = 8). Observation of their data indicated values that were within the boundaries of the distribution obtained by outfield players (Eye-hand coordination: goalkeeper range = 46.8–55.4, outfield M = 53.0 (±3.5), reaction time: goalkeeper range = 329–385 ms, outfield M = 357 ms (±34), response time: goalkeeper range = 402–640 ms, outfield M = 443 ms (±64). Future work, potentially involving the pooling of data from across premier league clubs or similarly elite goalkeepers, is required before any firm conclusions can be drawn

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Nike Inc.: [Grant Number J255062].