Interchangeability of Sprinting Profiles by Setting Speed Threshold of 25 km/h Using Global Navigation Satellite System in the Japanese Professional Football League

抄録

At the beginning of the 2023 season, the Japanese Professional Football League (J-League) changed the speed criterion of sprinting from > 24 km/h to > 25 km/h (SP24 and SP25). This study aimed to determine the interchangeability of the SP24 and SP25 in a professional football match using 10- Hz positioning information from a global navigation satellite system. Of the 70 match files that were randomly selected, 66 satisfied the inclusion criteria for the final study. SP24 and SP25 were defined as running for > 1 s with a speed of at least 24 and 25 km/h, respectively. The number of instances of SP25 was significantly lesser than that of SP24 (p < 0.01), and the relative deviation was -25.68 ± 20.74 %. The lower and upper agreement limits were -5.32 and 1.64 n/match, respectively. A significant relationship was observed between the deviation and average value (r = -0.681, p < 0.01). Additionally, SP25 was significantly shorter in time and distance than was SP24 (p < 0.001). Our findings suggest that the SP profiles from the 2023 season (SP25) were not interchangeable with those from previous seasons of the J-League (SP24).