@Article{Asian-Clemente2026,
journal="Biology of Sport",
issn="0860-021X",
year="2026",
title="Is the positioning of defensive players an aspect to consider in soccer transition games?",
abstract="This	study	investigated	the	influence	of	defensive	player	positioning	on	the	external	and	internal	loads	experienced	during	small-sided	transition	games	(TGs)	and	the	subsequent	effects	on	sprint	and	jump	performance.	Twenty	male	youth	players	(age	15.7	±	0.2 years;	height	175.3	±	7.5 cm;	mass	67.1	±	6.8 kg)	completed	two	7-min	bouts,	with	2 minutes	of	passive	recovery,	of	2	vs.	2 TGs	under	three	defensive	configurations:	defenders	in	front	of	attackers	(TG Front ),	behind	attackers	(TG Behind ),	and	parallel	to	attackers	(TG Parallel ).	During	each	TG,	we	recorded	total	distance	covered	(DC),	distance	covered	in	running	(18.0–20.9 km	·	h −1 ),	highintensity	running	(21.0–23.9 km	·	h −1 ),	and	sprinting	(> 24.0 km	·	h −1 ),	peak	speed,	mechanical	load,	and	the	number	of	accelerations	and	decelerations > 1.0 m	·	s −2 	and > 2.5 m	·	s −2 .	Ratings	of	perceived	exertion	(RPE)	were	also	collected.	Sprint	(30 m)	and	countermovement	jump	(CMJ)	tests	were	administered	immediately	before and after each session. The results showed that TG Parallel  and TG Behind 	elicited	significantly	greater	DC,	distances	in	running,	high-intensity	running,	and	sprinting	zones,	mechanical	load,	accelerations > 2.5 m	·	s −2 , and RPE compared to TGFront	(p   2.5 m	·	s −2  than TGBehind	(p   0.05).	These	findings	demonstrate	that	positioning	defenders	behind	or	parallel	to	attackers	increases	both	external	and	internal	loads	across	running,	high-intensity,	and	sprinting	zones	during	TGs,	without	compromising	subsequent	sprint	or	jump	performance.",
author="Asian-Clemente, Jose A.
and Requena, Bernardo
and Suarez-Arrones, Luis
and Żmijewski, Piotr",
pages="703--709",
doi="10.5114/biolsport.2026.156229",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.5114/biolsport.2026.156229"
}