Are Championship Players Fitter Than Their Premier League Counterparts?

The Premier League is regarded by some as the most entertaining football league in the world, attracting some of the most talented players ever to have played the game. The vast sums of money available to teams competing in the Premier League inflates every season, with Chelsea reportedley earning just shy of £100 million for their title winning season of 2014/15, and QPR awarded nearly £65 million for last place. This is through a combination of television revenue, prize money and other payments. In this regard, winning promotion into the Premier League can mean substantial financial attainment, even if survival is one season only.

This article looks at whether there are any significant differences in the aerobic endurance levels of Premier League players and second tier Championship players. It would be hypothesised that the elite players would be the fittest, but is that really the case? And if so, why?

Fig 1. Shows a comparison of absolute VO2max values (L·min-1) between Premier League players and Championship players.

Fig 2. Shows a comparison of VO2max values relative to body weight (mL·kg·min-1) between Premier League players and Championship players.

Statistical Data

An Independent Samples T Test was performed to identify any significant difference between the VO2max values relative to bodyweight of Premier League players and Championship players. These calculations were carried out using SPSS software.

Equal variances are assumed as the Levene’s Test for Equality showed a significance of over 5%. On average Premier League players had a higher VO2max value relative to bodyweight (M = 64.2, SE = 5.3) than Championship players (M = 57.4, SE = 3.6). This difference was not significant, t(14) = 1.0, p (two tailed) = .312, and a small effect size was observed, r =.25.

Although there was a difference in VO2max values relative to bodyweight between players from the Premier League and the Championship, the difference was not large enough to be significant. Therefore, from the statistical data collected we can reject the experimental hypothesis, and accept the null hypothesis that there is no significant difference in VO2max values relative to bodyweight, between Premier League Players and Championship players.

One thing that must be considered when comparing VO2max values is that they will vary with playing positions, with the highest and lowest values often being reported in midfield and central defenders respectively, while full backs and strikers have levels that are intermediate (Stolen, 2005). This may explain the one data set from the Premier League that lowers the total mean value drastically. Although an observation that low would more likely to be an error while collecting the data. Interestingly, when this particular data set is removed from the sample and the statistical test is repeated, a significant difference is observed (p = .039), raising the average VO2max value relative to bodyweight (M = 68.8, SE = 3.2) indicating Premier League players to have superior VO2max values.

It is assumed that as Premier League players perform at a higher level, they would also possess higher VO2max values. Although, this may not always be the case, as Championship players actually cover a higher total distance per game than their Premier League counterparts (Di Salvo 2012). This may be put down the superior ability of Premier League players in that they perform fewer technical errors, therefore have no need to make up for technical mistakes as less able players must. It may also be suggested that Premier League players make decisions quicker and more accurately, again resulting in fewer errors (Di Salvo 2012). The VO2max values of elite players have also been found to correlate significantly with distance covered (Reilly, 1993), which reiterates this point.

Most activity during an elite level of football is aerobic in nature, but the importance of anaerobic efforts must not be overlooked, as players are required to sprint maximally once every ninety seconds (Reilly, Williams 2003), with VO2max influencing the amount of sprints attempted (Smaros 1980). The upper limit that prolonged exercise can be maintained is influenced by the anaerobic threshold and a high fractional utilisation of VO2max. Both Premier League and Championship players displayed a similar fraction of expired oxygen (16.09 ± 0.85, 16.46 ± 0.37 respectively). This reflects the similarities in both data sets.

The similarities in the VO2max values between Premier League players and Championship players indicate how important aerobic capacity is at the elite level of football. Any small differences may be due to the technical abilities of players, or more realistically could be a result of different styles of play. A more technical approach may be taken from teams at a higher level, with emphasis on retaining possession, high pressing and rapid change of pace to penetrate defensive lines. At lower levels a more direct style of play may be adopted where the ball is played forward at the first given opportunity (Reilly, Williams 2003). Further research may be focused on other European top tier and second tier teams to compare to the English leagues. This may be useful for domestic teams in preparation for European competition.

References

1. Di Salvo, V., Piggozi, F., Gonzalez-Haro, C., Laughlin, MS., De Witt, JK. (2012) Match Performance Comparison in Top English Soccer Leagues. International Journal of Sports Medicine, 34(06), pp.526-532

2. Stolen , T., Chamari, K., Castanga, C., Wisloff, U. (2005) Physiology of Soccer: an update. The Journal of Sports Medicine 35, pp.501-536

3. Reilly, T., Williams, M.A. eds., (2003). Science And Soccer; ed. by Thomas Reilly 2nd ed., London: Routledge

4. Smaros, G. (1980) Energy Usage During Football Match. Proceedings of the 1st International Congress on Sport Medicine Applied to Football, vol. 11 (ed. L. Veceheit), D. Guanello, Rome, pp.795-801