ABSTRACT
The recent explosion in the popularity of female soccer in England is evident in the growth of the number of formally organised clubs in England from 263 to 700 in the past ten years with a concomitant doubling of the number of registered players from 7,000 to 14,000 (FA, 1998). The literature concerning the study of male players is abundant, but, much less is known about the female game, yet it would appear that the game places similar demands upon female players as it does upon male players. A Danish female international midfielder was reported to cover 9.5 km during an 80-min game, and time motion analysis revealed that percentage times spent standing, walking, jogging, running at various intensities, sprinting and backwards movement were similar to those for elite Danish male players in a league game (Bangsbo, 1993). A distance coverage of 8.5 km has been reported for Swedish female players during a league game with a distance of approximately 15 m per sprint (cited by Davis and Brewer, 1993). In a study of indoor four-a-side soccer, the intensity of play, as estimated by heart rate and blood lactate levels, was found to be the same for female players as for males in a similar previous study (Miles et al., 1993). Similarities between female and male team sports have been reported elsewhere, with trends in fitness scores related to position of female rugby players reflecting the trends seen in male players (Kirby and Reilly, 1993). There seems to be little data available on positional differences in female soccer players, though one study, which omitted statistical comparisons, showed trends observed for scores in fitness tests of the USA national team. This study indicates that the trend is for midfield players to have greater speed, aerobic endurance, and local muscular endurance compared to goalkeepers, defenders and forwards (Kirkendall and DiCicco, 1996). To our knowledge no study has examined physical fitness characteristics in different standards of female players.
