Biol Sport. 2026;43:605–616
1. Griffin J, Newans T, Horan S, Keogh J, Andreatta M, Minahan C. Acceleration and high-speed running profiles of women’s international and domestic football matches. Front Sports Act Living. 2021; 3:604605. doi: 10.3389/fspor .2021.604605.
2.
Teixeira JE, Forte P, Ferraz R, Leal M, Ribeiro J, Silva AJ, et al. Monitoring accumulated training and match load in football: a systematic review. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021; 18(8):3906. doi: 10.3390/ijerph 18083906.
3.
FIFA. Women’s football: member associations survey report 2023. Zurich: FIFA; 2023.
4.
Bradley PS, Dellal A, Mohr M, Castellano J, Wilkie A. Gender differences in match performance characteristics of soccer players competing in the UEFA Champions League. Hum Mov Sci. 2014; 33:159–171.
5.
Farhani Z, Amara S, Ben Aissa M, Guelmami N, Bouassida A, Dergaa I. The variability of physical enjoyment, physiological responses, and technical-tactical performance according to the bout duration of small-sided games: a comparative study between female and male soccer players. BMC Sports Sci Med Rehabil. 2024; 16:39.
6.
Okholm Kryger K, Wang A, Mehta R, Impellizzeri FM, Massey A, McCall A. Research on women’s football: a scoping review. Sci Med Football. 2022; 6(5):549–558.
7.
Oliveira R, Martins A, Moreno-Villanueva A, Brito JP, Nalha M, Rico-González M, et al. Reference values for external and internal training intensity monitoring in professional male soccer players: a systematic review. Int J Sports Sci Coach. 2022; 17(6):1506–1530.
8.
Martin-García A, Gómez Díaz A, Bradley PS, Morera F, Casamichana D. Quantification of a professional football team’s external load using a microcycle structure. J Strength Cond Res. 2018; 32(12):3511–3518.
9.
Gomez-Villaseca M, Rehbein C, Earp J, Ramirez-Campillo R, Penailillo L. Match-related activity profiles of youth female and male football players during World Cup classification tournaments and their relationship to body composition. J Sports Med Phys Fitness. 2024; 64(8):xxxx-xxxx.
10.
Cardoso de Araújo M, Baumgart C, Jansen CT, Freiwald J, Hoppe MW. Sex differences in physical capacities of German Bundesliga soccer players. J Strength Cond Res. 2020; 34(8):2329–2337.
11.
Scott D, Bruinvels G, Norris D, Lovell R. The dose–response in elite soccer: preliminary insights from menstrual-cycle tracking during the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2019. Int J Sports Physiol Perform. 2024; 19(4):331–339.
12.
Carmichael MA, Thomson RL, Moran LJ, Wycherley TP. The impact of menstrual cycle phase on athletes’ performance: a narrative review. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021; 18(4):1667.
13.
Colenso-Semple LM, D’Souza AC, Elliott-Sale KJ, Phillips SM. Current evidence shows no influence of women’s menstrual cycle phase on acute strength performance or adaptations to resistance exercise training. Front Sports Act Living. 2023; 5:1054542.
14.
Delgado-Bordonau JL, Mendez-Villanueva A. Tactical periodization. Soccer J. 2012; (June):28–34.
15.
Guridi I, Castellano J, Echeazarra I. Physical demands and internal response in football sessions according to tactical periodization. Retos. 2021; 41:1–7.
16.
Olaizola A, Errekagorri I, Lopez-de-Ipina K, Calvo PM, Castellano J. Comparison of the external load in training sessions and official matches in female football: a case report. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022; 19(23):15820.
17.
Soler-López A, Gómez-Carmona CD, Moreno-Villanueva A, Gutiérrez AM, Pino-Ortega J. Effects of congested matches and training schedules on salivary markers in elite futsal players. Appl Sci. 2024; 14(12):5478.
18.
Soler-López A, Moreno-Villanueva A, Gómez-Carmona CD, Pino-Ortega J. The role of biomarkers in monitoring chronic fatigue among male professional team athletes: a systematic review. Sensors. 2024; 24(21):6591.
19.
Zech A, Hollander K, Junge A, Steib S, Groll A, Heiner J, et al. Sex differences in injury rates in team-sport athletes: a systematic review and meta-regression analysis. J Sport Health Sci. 2022; 11(1):104–114.
20.
Rojas-Valverde D, Pino-Ortega J, Gómez-Carmona CD, Rico-González M. A systematic review of methods and criteria standard proposal for the use of principal component analysis in team’s sports science. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020; 17(23):8712.
21.
Casamichana D, Castellano J, Gómez Díaz A, Martín-García A. Looking for complementary intensity variables in different training games in football. J Strength Cond Res. 2019; 33(11):3080–3087.
22.
Weaving D, Jones B, Marshall P, Till K, Abt G. Multiple measures are needed to quantify training loads in professional rugby league. Int J Sports Med. 2017; 38(10):735–740.
23.
Casal CA, Losada JL, Barreira D. Multivariate exploratory comparative analysis of LaLiga teams: principal component analysis. Int J Perform Anal Sport. 2021:xxxx–xxxx.
24.
Rodríguez Porras LD, Solano-Mora L, Rivas-Borbón M, Moreno-Villanueva A, Soler-López A, Pino-Ortega J, et al. Profile of physical demands in female soccer players during competitions: a systematic review. Strength Cond J. 2024; 46(5):567–586.
25.
Delaney JA, Cummins CJ, Thornton HR, Duthie GM. Importance, reliability, and usefulness of acceleration measures in team sports. J Strength Cond Res. 2018; 32(12):3485–3493.
26.
Weaving D, Beggs C, Dalton-Barron N, Jones B, Abt G. Visualizing the complexity of the athlete-monitoring cycle through principal-component analysis. Int J Sports Physiol Perform. 2019; 14(9):1304–1310.
27.
Kaiser HF. The application of electronic computers to factor analysis. Educ Psychol Meas. 1960; 20(1):141–151.
28.
Williams S, Trewartha G, Cross MJ, Kemp SPT, Stokes KA. Monitoring what matters: a systematic process for selecting training-load measures. Int J Sports Physiol Perform. 2017; 12:101–106.
29.
Weaving D, Marshall P, Earle K, Nevill A, Abt G. Combining internal- and external-training-load measures in professional rugby league. Int J Sports Physiol Perform. 2014; 9(6):905–912.
30.
Kodinariya TM, Makwana PR. Review on determining number of cluster in K-means clustering. Int J Adv Res Comput Sci Manag Stud. 2013; 1(6):90–95.
31.
Hopkins WG, Marshall SW, Batterham AM, Hanin J. Progressive statistics for studies in sports medicine and exercise science. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2009; 41(1):3–12.
32.
Teixeira JE, Forte P, Ferraz R, Branquinho L, Morgans R, Silva AJ, et al. Resultant equations for training load monitoring during a standard microcycle in sub-elite youth football: a principal components approach. PeerJ. 2023; 11:e14785.
33.
Zurutuza U, Castellano J, Echeazarra I, Guridi I, Casamichana D. Selecting training-load measures to explain variability in football training games. Front Psychol. 2020; 11:2089.
34.
Mohr M, Krustrup P, Bangsbo J. Fatigue in soccer: a brief review. J Sports Sci. 2005; 23(6):593–599.
35.
Scanlan AT, Miller D, Lundquist M, Elsworthy N, Lastella M. Load distribution across weekly microcycles according to match schedule in a team competing in the Australian national A-League Women’s soccer competition. Biol Sport. 2025; 42(2):265–277.
36.
Buchheit M, Lacome M, Cholley Y, Simpson BM. Neuromuscular responses to conditioned soccer sessions assessed via GPS-embedded accelerometers: insights into tactical periodization. Int J Sports Physiol Perform. 2018; 13(5):577–583.
37.
Marín K, Castellano J. Comparison of different coach competition micro-cycle planning strategies in professional soccer. Sustainability. 2023; 15:16218.
38.
Savolainen E, Ihalainen J, Weckström K, Vänttinen T, Walker S. Female football players’ key physical qualities: playing-position specific comparison between national-team selected and non-selected players. Biol Sport. 2025; 42(3):109–117.
39.
Mazola I, Valdés M, Romero-Moraleda B, González-García J. From youth to senior: external load progression and positional differences in Spanish women’s national teams during World Cup competitions. Appl Sci. 2025; 15:8421.
40.
Clemente F, Ramirez-Campillo R, Beato M, Moran J, Kawczynski A, Makar P, et al. Arbitrary absolute vs. individualized running speed thresholds in team sports: a scoping review with evidence gap map. Biol Sport. 2023; 40(3):919–943.
41.
Harkness-Armstrong A, Till K, Datson N, Myhill N, Emmonds S. A systematic review of match-play characteristics in women’s soccer. PLoS ONE. 2022; 17(4):e0268334.
42.
Posse-Álvarez M, Solleiro-Duran D, Lorenzo-Martínez M, Iglesias-Soler E, Oliva-Lozano JM, Padrón-Cabo A. Does microcycle length influence the external and internal load in professional female soccer players? Biol Sport. 2025; 42(2):215–223.
Copyright: Institute of Sport. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons CC BY License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). This license enables reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, so long as attribution is given to the creator. The license allows for commercial use.