How Far Do You Run During a Soccer Game?


This guy from "the old country" said 10 miles. So I divided 10 miles by 90 minutes. To cover 10 miles would require a constant running pace of almost seven miles per hour and I knew intuitively that 10 miles couldn't be correct.


First you have to videotape a game with a camera that doesn't follow the ball. Then play it back while you focus on one player, recording every movement they make while estimating the pace and distance they run. Then rewind and do it all over again for the next player. Labor and time intensive is an understatement for these projects.


Movement speeds were walking, jogging, cruising ('running with manifest purpose and effort'), sprinting and backing.



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Recording every change of speed and direction showed that there was some change in activity every 5-6 seconds. Subsequent work and maturation of the game has pushed this total distance up to around 10,000 meters for a men's professional European game with the South American game being contested at a little less total running distance.

Midfielders run the most, central strikers and defenders the least. Don't brag too much about the running volume--10,000 meters (six miles) in 90 minutes is four miles per hour, something a good power walker can do.


I remember charting one women's national team member who averaged 185-190 beats per minute for the whole game.

One interesting observation that doesn't take an "A" license to figure out: the most physically intense part of the game is while in control of the ball.

Your pulse rate goes up and lactic acid production (that heavy feeling in your legs you perceive after sprinting) increases. This is a primary reason why coaches sets up lots of small sided games that force players to be 'on the ball' far more often than during 11 v 11.

Generally, the women's game is a little less running and at a slower pace (about 75 percent of the women's game is at a walk/jog), but when conditions demand it, the women can cover just as much distance as the men.




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