# The Influence of Seasonal Period and Match Outcome on External Load in Professional Soccer Players: Analyzing the Effect of Winning and Losing Streaks

## TL;DR

This study shows how soccer players' training loads change based on match outcomes and performance streaks during a season, with implications for injury prevention and training management.

## Contribution

The study introduces a detailed analysis of how performance streaks and match outcomes influence weekly training load in professional soccer.

## Key findings

- The team accumulated higher weekly training load after medium-performance streaks.
- Weekly training volume was lower after drawn matches compared to won matches.
- Most training variables decreased as the season progressed.

## Abstract

What are the main findings?

The team accumulated higher weekly training load (TL) after medi-um-performance streaks. Contrarily, weekly training volume was lower after drawn matches than after won matches.Although there was not a clear trend on evolution on TL, most of variables de-creased as the season progressed.

The team accumulated higher weekly training load (TL) after medi-um-performance streaks. Contrarily, weekly training volume was lower after drawn matches than after won matches.

Although there was not a clear trend on evolution on TL, most of variables de-creased as the season progressed.

What is the implication of the main finding?

Identifying the weeks with higher training demands is crucial for effective load management and preventing injury risk for overreaching.Practitioners should reduce the weekly training demands after high- or medi-um-performance streaks or, even, after lost matches since players will try to per-form their maximum efforts on those weeks.

Identifying the weeks with higher training demands is crucial for effective load management and preventing injury risk for overreaching.

Practitioners should reduce the weekly training demands after high- or medi-um-performance streaks or, even, after lost matches since players will try to per-form their maximum efforts on those weeks.

The aim of this study was threefold: (i) to analyze the influence of previous match outcome on subsequent weekly training load (TL); (ii) to examine whether accumulated weekly TL varies throughout the season; and (iii) to investigate the influence of performance streaks got during competition on subsequent weekly TL. Twenty-one Spanish male professional soccer players from the same team were involved in the study. Total distance (TD), medium-speed running (MSR, distance 10.8–18.0 km·h−1), high-speed running (HSR, >21 km·h−1), very high-speed running (VHSR, 18.0–25.2 km·h−1), sprinting speed running distance (sprint, >25.2 km·h−1), player load (PL), number of accelerations (ACC), and decelerations (DEC) were recorded during training sessions using 10 Hz GPS devices. Previous match outcome, period of the season, and the performance streaks were also considered. Linear mixed models showed that team covered significantly less TD during the week after draw than after win (p < 0.05). In addition, most of the variables decreased as the season progressed. Finally, after medium-performance streaks, team covered significantly higher TD compared to high-performance streaks (p < 0.05) and low performance streaks (p < 0.01). These findings showed that low-performance streaks could reduce weekly external TL.