Physical and anthropometric profiles of elite female soccer players

Aim. The prominent progress in the development of female soccer has led to the need to determine the physical and anthropometric profiles of female soccer players. Suprisingly, only a small number of studies have focused on this problem so far. Therefore, the main aim of this study was to determine physical and anthropometric profiles of elite female soccer players. Methods. The sample consisted of 28 members of the Montenegrin women's soccer national team. The players were tested at the end of the 2011/12 competition season. For the purpose of this research, 12 anthropometric measures were taken: body mass, body height, leg length, arm length, biacromial diameter, biiliac diameter, elbow diameter, knee diameter, upper arm girth, forearm girth, thigh girth, calf girth. All measurements were performed according to the instructions of the International Biological Programme. Physical abilities tests were conducted by performing 10 motor function tests: standing long jump, countermovement jump, 10 m sprint, 20 m "flying" sprint, 30 m sprint, Ajax 5x10 m, zigzag, zigzag with ball, 300 yards and Yo-Yo intermittent recovery test (level 1). Results. The morphological profile of Montenegrin soccer players identified in this paper is at a similar level with players' profiles in previous research, with an important characteristic relating to body height across the sample and longitudinal measures of upper and lower extremities of goal keepers. Our analysis did not reveal any statistical significance among different playing positions in anthropometric indicators, while in physical abilities differences were found in tests 20 m "flying" (F=5.21; P<0.01), 300 yards (F=4.98; P<0.01) and Yo-Yo test (F=3.63; P<0.01) and in test 30 m sprint (F=3.64; P<0.05). Conclusion. The findings of this study are of outmost importance in defining physiological profiles of elite soccer players, in order to enable efficient telent identification and selection, as well as for developing optimal training procedures. However, further research should be performed in order to establish age related changes in the profile of elite female soccer player.