Study of the functional load of elite football assistant referees in the Republic of Bulgaria during official matches

K. Naydenova; G. Ignatov

bg | en

K. Naydenova

, G. Ignatov

Abstract: The level of development of modern professional football imposes increasingly high demands on the physical training of football referees. An excellently prepared physical football referee would much more effectively resist fatigue, which is a basic prerequisite for making correct and timely decisions during football matches.
The aim of the present study was to determine the level of physical training of Bulgarian elite assistant football referees by tracking the pulse rate values and the zones of physical exertion in which they work during a football match. We determined the tasks of the research: 1. Investigate the problem according to literature sources.2. Recording of individual indicators of physical exertion during a football match. 3. Statistical processing, analysis and interpretation of the obtained data. We processed the results using the statistical software SPSS v.22.
Results: Analyzing the results of the present study, we found that the assistant referees move at an average speed of 11.88 km/h in the first half and 12.77 km/h in the second half, respectively. The average heart rate in the first half was 128.48 beats/min versus 125.55 beats/min in the second. The average distance covered was 3946 m.
Discussion: The relatively smaller distance covered during a match by the Bulgarian assistant referees – 3946 m, compared to the Danish assistant referees – 7280 m can be explained by the slow pace of play in the Bulgarian championship or in other words slower football in our First Professional League.
Conclusion: From the analysis of the data, we can summarize that there are weaknesses in the performance of the assistant referees, which we can attribute on the one hand to the specifics of their movement in the field, and on the other to the need to optimize their physical training.

Series on Biomechanics, Vol.37, No.4 (2023), 19-26

Keywords: assistant football referees; Football; heart rate; physical exertion; physical training

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DOI: 10.7546/SB.03.04.2023

Date published: 2023-11-28

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