Positional differences in morphology, somatotype and body composition characteristics in university level Indian footballers

Abstract

Objective: The purpose of this study was to describe the morphological, somatotype, and body composition characteristics of Indian university level football players based upon their field position. Design: Cross-sectional study. Methods: A total of 204 male football players from sixteen different Indian universities volunteered for this study. Anthropometric measurements included body weight and height, five muscle girths (upper arm, forearm, chest, thigh and calf), four bone widths (humerus biepicondylar, bistyloideus, femur biepicondylar and bimalleolar) and eight skinfold thicknesses (triceps, subscapular, pectoral, axilla, abdominal, suprailiac, mid thigh and calf) were measured. Further, somatotype (endomorphy, mesomorphy, ectomorphy) and body composition (BMI, % fat, skeletal muscle mass, skeletal mass) were assessed. Results: One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to observe differences of means among the groups. In order to determine which group was different from other group Tukey post hoc test applied. Compared to other field players, goalkeepers showed higher values for body height, body weight, upper arm girth (p <0.05), more but not excessive body fat. Defenders, midfielders and strikers were ectomorphic mesomorph whereas goalkeepers were endomorphic mesomorph in physique. Conclusion: University level Indian footballers were average in height, weight, and muscle mass.