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. 2022 Jun 23;12(1):10680.
doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-14996-z.

The effect of mid-season coach turnover on running match performance and match outcome in professional soccer players

Łukasz Radzimiński  1 , Alexis Padrón-Cabo  2 , Toni Modric  3 , Marcin Andrzejewski  4 , Sime Versic  3 , Paweł Chmura  5 , Damir Sekulic  3 , Marek Konefał  6
Affiliations

The effect of mid-season coach turnover on running match performance and match outcome in professional soccer players

Łukasz Radzimiński et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

The aim of this research was to examine the physical match performance and match outcome before and after coach turnover in professional soccer teams compared with a control group containing coaches working continuously for 3 consecutive seasons. Analysed data included 325 performances of teams led by dismissed coaches (DC), 313 of teams led by new coaches (NC), and 580 of teams led by unchanged coaches (UnC). Variables, such as average number of collected points, total distance (TD), total distance per minute (TD/min), high-speed running (HSR), sprinting and number of high-intensity runs (NHIR), were analysed in the last 15 games of DC and 15 matches of NC. These periods were divided into 3 blocks out of 5 matches (5-match blocks). NC collected a significantly higher number of points than DC (p = 0.015), whereas average points collected by UNC were significantly greater than DC (p < 0.001 and NC (p = 0.012). TD and TD/min for DC were significantly lower (p < 0.001) compared with both NC and UnC, whereas significant differences in HSR (p = 0.003) and NHIR (p = 0.03) were identified between DC and NC. The current study reported that mid-season coach turnover may result in short-term improvement in team results and physical match performance. However, this effect disappears after a period of approximately 5 games.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Average points collected by dismissed coaches during their last 15 matches and new coaches in their first 15 games.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Comparison of average points collected by dismissed coaches (DC), new coaches (NC), and unchanged coaches (UnC).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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