The recent point-counter-point exchange arising from the article by Mendez-Villanueva and Buchheit (2013) (Football-specific fitness testing: Adding value or confirming the evidence? Journal of Sports Sciences, 31, 1503-1508) has generated an interesting debate on the real-world utility of fitness testing in professional association football (soccer). In the present authors' opinion, this excha...

the aim of the present study was to compare the effect of coach change on team performance in iran football premier league and five major european leagues. the design of study was quantitative and the research method was causal comparative. the population of the research included all 340 teams present in iran football premier league and selected european leagues (uk premier league, spain la lig...

the aim of this study was to investigate the role of stress in the relationship between emotional intelligence (ei) and mental health in iran football referees. method was correlational conducted as a field study. statistical population consisted of all referees and assistant referees of iran football premier league (2012-2013 season) (n= 79) and the sample was equal to the population. general ...

Analyzing the neutrality of referees during 12 German premier league (1. Bundesliga) soccer seasons, this paper documents evidence that social forces influence agents’ decisions. Referees, who are appointed to be impartial, tend to favor the home team by systematically awarding more stoppage time in close matches in which the home team is behind. They also favor the home team in decisions to aw...

because of reducing the number of spectators of football premier league, this study is seeking for identifying factors put the most impact on this decline. the statistical population consisted of all spectators in iran football premier league in 2015-16, out of which 395 spectators were randomly selected as the research samples. the data were collected via a researcher-made questionnaire. the f...

The recent point-counter-point exchange arising from the article by Mendez-Villanueva and Buchheit (Mendez-Villanueva A, & Buchheit M. (2013) Football-specific fitness testing: adding value or confirming the evidence? Journal of Sports Sciences, 31, 1503-1508) generated an interesting debate on the real world utility of fitness testing in professional association football (soccer). In the prese...

PURPOSE Soccer referees' physical match performances at the start of the second half (46-60 min) were evaluated in relation to both the corresponding phase of the first half (0-15 min) and players' performances during the same match periods. METHODS Match analysis data were collected (Prozone, UK) from 12 soccer referees on 152 English Premier League matches during the 2008/09 soccer season. ...

BACKGROUND Static stretching (SS) is a recovery intervention used for the reduction of muscle soreness postexercise. The effects of SS on elite young footballers have received little attention, and therefore the aim of this study was to assess the effects of SS on muscle recovery following competitive soccer matches in elite young footballers. METHODS Ten male participants (16±1 years) were r...