By Theodore Lainas

 

 

The World Cup in Qatar ended with intense and thriller games where in many cases the players of the teams did not manage to resolve their differences in the ninety minutes of regular time and extra time and penalties were needed as happened in the amazing final between Argentina and France.

 

You don't need to be an expert to realize that even professional athletes who train hard, follow a special diet and take all the necessary nutritional and body strengthening supplements are exhausted after 90 minutes of intense physical exercise. But what are the effects of this extra strain on the players' bodies in prolonging a match?

 

A new study comes to shed light on what happens to footballers' bodies when they must continue playing for another half hour after 90 minutes.

 

In order to answer this question, a very demanding study was designed and completed in Greece, with the support of UEFA and with multinational participation. The study was organized by SmArTLab researchers of the Department of Physical Education and Sports Science of the University of Thessaly, in Trikala and the homonymous Department of Southern Denmark University (SDU), based in Odense, Denmark.

 

The team's goal was to study the effect of stretching both at the performance level and at the physiological, cellular and molecular level. The study involved the participation of soccer players in two overtime matches, three days apart. The soccer players each time received either a placebo or a carbohydrate supplement (in random order). Fitness performance was measured and biological samples were taken before each match as well as at the end of the regular match and overtime. Athletic performance during the games was monitored with GPS equipment and heart rate monitors.

 

The researchers found that the stretch caused a significant reduction, up to 12%, in the sprinters' distance covered, average and maximum speed, as well as muscle power and the ability to perform repeated sprints. The fluid loss during the extension was remarkable (more than 50% compared to the first 90 minutes).

 

Prolongation caused an increase in inflammation and a severe decrease in carbohydrate stores in the muscle, below the critical threshold of 200 mmol/kg muscle. This decrease was observed in all types of muscle fibers which was accompanied by an extensive decrease in glucose in the blood and increase in lipid and protein metabolism.

 

Both carbohydrate stores and some performance variables were not fully restored in the second race three days later, resulting in reduced racing activity. However, carbohydrate intake prevented these consequences and restored the soccer players' performance.

 

Also the mental fatigue and psychological stress that the football players showed in the extra time was remarkable.

 

Based on this study we could now understand the burden of extending a football match and appreciate the effort of football players more so we can develop effective methods of helping football players to strain their bodies in case of playing extra time.