ABSTRACT
Many factors determine the outcome of a soccer match and one of these may be the physical performance during a match and the fitness levels of the players. Thus, recent studies have shown that the physical demands in a game are related to the level of competition, e.g. Italian Serie A players ran significantly more highintensity running than Danish Premier League players (Mohr et al., 2003; Krustrup et al., 2006). Also the players’ ability to perform intense intermittent exercise varies according to the level of play, e.g. Yo-Yo IR2 performance was higher for Danish Premier League players than Second Division players. However, it is still unknown whether match activities differ between top, middle and bottom teams in the same league and whether any difference is related to the players’ ability to perform repeated intense exercise.
