An investigation of external load parameters in home and away matches for TFF 1st League soccer team

Analyzing players' ultimate performance during a football match holds critical importance in monitoring each match's workload, determining training load, and improving individual player performance. The primary aim of this research is to identify the external loads of competitive professional football team competing in Türkiye Football Federation (TFF) 1st league during the 2022-2023 season, and to examine the impact of the match location (home and away) on the external load. Secondarily, it aims to compare the external loads of players by positions. Twenty-two professional football players (age, 27.6 ± 4.7 years; height, 179.4 ± 5.6 cm; body weight, 76.2 ± 6.2 BMI, 23.6 ± 1.2 kg/m^2) have voluntarily participated in the research. In the study, a total of 181 individual match observations have been analyzed in 15 matches, 7 of which are home and 8 are away. The data were analyzed using the SPSS 26.0 software package. For tests of differences, the t-test and one-way ANOVA were utilized. Considering the homogeneity of the groups for second-level tests, the Games-Howell and Hochberg GT2 methods were used. As a result of the statistical analyses performed, it was found that the football team's external load parameters did not differ according to the match location; statistically significant difference was detected in the total distance covered variable in favor of the defense players among defense, forward, and midfield players. In addition, a significant difference was found in favor of midfield players in high-speed and sprint speed ranges between midfield and defense players. In conclusion, the results support the notion that player positions affect external load parameters, and thus coaches should consider player positions when planning their training. However, the results are contradictory for viewing the match location as a variable that affects external load parameters, and more research is needed.