Elite-youth and university-level versions of SAFT90 simulate the internal and external loads of competitive soccer

The motion demands of competitive soccer match-play have been published extensively. The recent development of semi-automated systems has enabled researchers and practitioners to collect and manage large volumes of data, which has furthered our understanding of the physical requirements. It is increasingly acknowledged that players perform within their physical capabilities (Drust et al., 2007) and that extrinsic factors such as tactical approach, quality of opposition, match status and crowd support create a large degree of inter-match variability in the physical data (Gregson et al., 2010). The myriad of factors that affect physical match performances makes it difficult for researchers to adopt these outcome measures to determine the efficacy of a given physical training intervention or ergogenic aid.