Original articles  EXERCISE PHYSIOLOGY AND BIOMECHANICS 

The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness 2008 December;48(4):443-6

Copyright © 2008 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Activity profile of elite goalkeepers during football match-play

Di Salvo V. ^{1, 2}, Benito P. J. ³, Calderón F. J. ³, Di Salvo M. ², Pigozzi F. ²

¹ Real Madrid Football Club, Madrid, Spain 2 Department of Health Sciences University of Rome “Foro Italico” (IUSM), Rome, Italy 3 Laboratory of Exercise Physiology Faculty of Physical Activity and Sports Science (INEF) Polytechnic University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain

Aim. The purpose of this study was to analyse the activities of a goalkeeper during a match and to identify the distances covered at different velocities between the first and second halves.
Methods. Sixty-two goalkeepers belonging to 28 teams in the English Premier League were monitored over 109 matches using the Prozone® system. All values are averages and standard deviations. Pearson product moment correlation was used to examine selected bivariate correlation. To analyze the differences in averages, the paired Student t-test was used. The analyses were performed using SPSS (v.13.0; SPSS, Inc. Chicago, IL). The significance level was set at P<0.05.
Results. Mean total distance covered by the goalkeeper during the match was 5 611±613 m. There were no differences between distances covered in the first and second halves. The distance covered at high-intensity was 56±34 m, while the distance covered sprinting was 11±12 m. The average number of high speed actions was 10±6, with a total range between 0 and 40. The goalkeeper walked during 73% of the match, while spending just 2% moving at high-intensity.
Conclusion. The goalkeeper’s physical activity was not as great as that of the field players, but the high-intensity actions carried out will be very decisive in the final result of the match.