ORIGINAL PAPER
Acceleration-speed profile and external load across different transition game formats in professional football players: a pilot study
1
Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, University of Foggia, Foggia, Italy
2
Department of Neurosciences, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy
These authors had equal contribution to this work
Submission date: 2026-03-17
Acceptance date: 2026-07-02
Online publication date: 2026-09-01
Corresponding author
Nicola Trotta
Department of Neurosciences, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, Via Felice Casorati 43, 37131 Verona, Italy
Department of Neurosciences, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, Via Felice Casorati 43, 37131 Verona, Italy
KEYWORDS
TOPICS
ABSTRACT
Purpose:
This study compared the external load elicited by different transition game (TG) formats and investigated their relationship with players’ acceleration-speed profile (ASP).
Methods:
In this cross-sectional pilot study, twenty professional football players from the same team performed two different playing formats (TG3vs2 and TG2vs1–3vs2) on a 50 × 40 m pitch over two consecutive weeks in a non-randomised order. Distance covered (DC), peak velocity (Vpeak), % peak velocity (%Vpeak), DC at 19.8 to 25.2 km ∙ h–1 (high-speed running, HSR), DC above 25.2 km ∙ h–1 (sprint running, SR), number of sprints (NS), and bursts were recorded. The ASP-derived parameters included the maximal theoretical acceleration (A0) and speed (S0).
Results:
TG3vs2 significantly elicited greater DC (p < 0.001; d = 4.05), HSR (p < 0.001; d = 2.05), and bursts (p < 0.001; d = 0.92) than TG2vs1–3vs2. Conversely, TG2vs1–3vs2 showed significantly greater SR (p < 0.001; d = 1.40), NS (p < 0.001; d = 1.35), Vpeak and %Vpeak (p < 0.001; d = 0.98) compared with TG3vs2. A significant correlation was observed in TG2vs1–3vs2 between bursts and A0 (r = 0.61, p < 0.01).
Conclusions:
The findings suggest that the proposed TG tasks impose distinct locomotor and mechanical load in professional football players and provide preliminary practical insights for the design and implementation of TG formats in this group of athletes.
This study compared the external load elicited by different transition game (TG) formats and investigated their relationship with players’ acceleration-speed profile (ASP).
Methods:
In this cross-sectional pilot study, twenty professional football players from the same team performed two different playing formats (TG3vs2 and TG2vs1–3vs2) on a 50 × 40 m pitch over two consecutive weeks in a non-randomised order. Distance covered (DC), peak velocity (Vpeak), % peak velocity (%Vpeak), DC at 19.8 to 25.2 km ∙ h–1 (high-speed running, HSR), DC above 25.2 km ∙ h–1 (sprint running, SR), number of sprints (NS), and bursts were recorded. The ASP-derived parameters included the maximal theoretical acceleration (A0) and speed (S0).
Results:
TG3vs2 significantly elicited greater DC (p < 0.001; d = 4.05), HSR (p < 0.001; d = 2.05), and bursts (p < 0.001; d = 0.92) than TG2vs1–3vs2. Conversely, TG2vs1–3vs2 showed significantly greater SR (p < 0.001; d = 1.40), NS (p < 0.001; d = 1.35), Vpeak and %Vpeak (p < 0.001; d = 0.98) compared with TG3vs2. A significant correlation was observed in TG2vs1–3vs2 between bursts and A0 (r = 0.61, p < 0.01).
Conclusions:
The findings suggest that the proposed TG tasks impose distinct locomotor and mechanical load in professional football players and provide preliminary practical insights for the design and implementation of TG formats in this group of athletes.
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