Resumen de Aerobic Fitness in Top-Class Soccer Referees
Carlo Castagna, Mario Bizzini, Susana C.A. Póvoas, Kai Schenk, Gery Busser, Stefano D'Ottavio
The aim of this study was to examine the aerobic fitness status of top-class male soccer officials using a cross-sectional design and known population group constructs. Fifty-two field referees (FRs, age 38.4 +/- 3.3 years; height 181 +/- 5.6 cm; body mass 76.8 +/- 6.8 kg; body mass index [BMI] 23.4 +/- 1.7 kg[middle dot]m-2; body fat 20.4 +/- 3.6%; and international refereeing experience 5 +/- 3.5 years) and 104 assistant referees (ARs, age 37.8 +/- 4.1 years; height 176.9 +/- 7.5 cm; body mass 72.1 +/- 7.4 kg; BMI 23 +/- 1.6 kg[middle dot]m-2; body fat 19.2 +/- 3.6%; and international refereeing experience 7 +/- 3.8 years) from 53 National Football Associations worldwide, and candidates of the preliminary open-list developed by the FIFA Refereeing Department for the 2014 World Cup Final Tournament, were tested for aerobic fitness in laboratory conditions with a progressive speed treadmill test to exhaustion. Large (+8.54%, d = 0.8) and small (+3.1%, d = 0.3) differences in absolute (L[middle dot]min-1) and relative (ml[middle dot]kg-1[middle dot]min-1) VO2max were found between FR and AR, respectively. Trivial differences (d = 0.07) were shown in running economy (RE) (6 minutes at 8 km[middle dot]h-1) between AR and FR. Using the scaling notation (b = 0.64), medium and significant differences were found between match officials for VO2max and RE (FR > AR; d = 0.6 and 0.67, respectively). Using receiver operating characteristic curve statistics, cutoff values of 3.93 L[middle dot]min-1 and 50.6 ml[middle dot]kg-1[middle dot]min-1 were detected in absolute and relative VO2max for the FR and the AR (FR > AR), respectively. The FR showed superior aerobic fitness compared with AR. Training prescription should consider intensities at anaerobic threshold speed (14 km[middle dot]h-1, 91% heart rate max) when aerobic fitness development is the aim in elite officials.
