ABSTRACT
Contemporary elite soccer induces high levels of physiological and psychological stress. Therefore, elite clubs should have as a required organizational practice the implementation of a fatigue monitoring system. This chapter discusses the state of research on fatigue monitoring in soccer. The first part of the chapter provides an overview of the mechanisms of fatigue in sport and exercise. Subsequently we analyze different contexts of acute and chronic fatigue monitoring in soccer such as: (i) during the match, (ii) during the post-match recovery period and (iii) during specific phases and time points of the soccer season (congested schedules and specific seasonal periods). In the third part of the chapter, we provide a rationale for choosing a set of parameters/dimensions within each particular season moment (e.g. within the season, throughout the week and within each training session) for fatigue monitoring purposes. We also aim to elucidate the reader about the complexity of the decision-making process in monitoring fatigue and recovery, providing practical scenarios that reveal that “a one-size-fits-all approach” cannot be applied. In fact, only a customized multidimensional fatigue monitoring battery may allow informed decision making on training load management and on the evaluation of training-induced adaptions and recovery in elite soccer. Closing the chapter, we present some considerations for a more on-field/ecological fatigue monitoring design, where training context is key.
