Dear Floren,

The following references can provide interesting perspectives for your work:

Dellal, A., Hill-Haas, S., Lago-Penas, C., & Chamari, K. (2011). Small-sided games in soccer: Amateur vs. professional players’ physiological responses, physical, and technical activities. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 25(9), 2371-2381.

Katis, A., & Kellis, E. (2009). Effects of small-sided games on physical conditioning and performance in youth soccer players. Journal of Sports Science and Medicine, 8, 374-380.

Leventer, L., Dicks, M., Duarte, R., Davids, K., & Araújo, D. (2014). Emergence of contact injuries in invasion team sports: An ecological dynamics rationale. Sports Medicine, 10. Doi: 10.1007/s40279-014-0263-x 

Please note that none of these articles are exclusively related  to the topic you mentioned.

Best wishes,

Carlos H. Almeida

Thank you very much.

Hello Florentino

Sorry, I don't know very well this subjects matter.

All the best

Thierry

Hi Florentino, this paper could be interesting too (but it doesn't deal with the prevention of injuries):

Effects of a periodized small-sided game training intervention on physical performance in elite professional soccer. Owen AL, Wong del P, Paul D, Dellal A.

Thanks my french friends,

Best

Hello everyone,

I am Alejandro Rodriguez, and a part of my PhD thesis is about SSGs. Certainly there are few studies showing the incidence of injuries.  The article by Owen et al, 2012 is very interesting, but would add:

Hill-Haas, S., Dawson, B., Impellizzeri, F., & Coutts, A. (2011). Physiology of small-sided games training in football: a systematic review. [Review]. Sports Med, 41(3), 199-220.

Impellizzeri, F. M., Marcora, S. M., Castagna, C., Reilly, T., Sassi, A., Iaia, F. M., & Rampinini, E. (2006). Physiological and performance effects of generic versus specific aerobic training in soccer players. [Randomized Controlled Trial]. Int J Sports Med, 27(6), 483-492.

In addition the revision of Haoluani mentions potential effect on injuries

Halouani, J., Chtourou, H., Gabbett, T., Chaouachi, A., & Chamari, K. (2014). Small-sided games in team sports training: Brief review. J Strength Cond Res.

Best regards 

Thanks Alejandro.

Dear Florentino,

your question is very interesting. In fact, there are no studies on this parameters... my master degree was in SSG and i work often with it. There were many good studies suggested here already but i would add some more (hope you can get something out of it):

- Abrantes C, Nunes M, Macas V, Leite N, Sampaio J. (2012) Effects of the number of players and game type constraints on heart rate, rating of perceived exertion, and technical actions of small-sided soccer games. J Strength Cond Res.

- Casamichana D, Castellano J, Castagna C. (2012) Comparing the physical demands of friendly matches and small-sided games in semiprofessional Soccer Players. J Strength Cond Res.

- Kelly D, Drust B. (2009) The effect of pitch dimensions on heart rate Responses and technical demands of small-sided Soccer games in elite Players. J Sci Med Sport.

Good work! :)

Thanks Marta, these references are very interesting, however, the vast of them are related to cardiovascular adaptations, not to strength or muscular power. It may be that critical methodological limitations underlie to this scarce evidence on this topic. What do you think? Thanks.

Yes i know. Of course you can use these methodological limitation. However the reason for me to send These articles is the reference to intensity and number of technical skills which can influence the strength. Not directly, but indirectly related...

Thanks a lot Marta, I appreciate your help.

Muchas gracias, Esteban, saludos

Florentino, aqui no Brasil virou uma febre os preparadores físicos usarem os SSGs para aprimoramento físico. Os resultados verificados em nosso Lab (Centro de Excelência Médica da FIFA) são desastrosos.

Thanks for your opinion Paulo. Yes, probably some problems could emerge from a overuse of this SSGs in the tecbical- tactical and physical fitness preparation. We would be interested in perform an study about is effect on disbalance between agonist / antagonist muscle and fatigue due to overuse of this methodology in your football players. Regards

Bom dia Huertas! Aqui no futebol brasileiro parece que os treinadores esqueceram dos treinamentos de corrida (aeróbia, anaeróbia) tão importantes para fortalecer os sistemas produtores de energia para o futebolista. Fiz um fellow no Real Madrid e aprecio muito o trabalho de Antonius Pintus, que valoriza muito o treino aeróbio contínuo e intervalado aeróbio. Aqui no Brasil está uma vergonha. O aerobismo não é valorizado. Pura ignorância.

Good morning Huertas! Here in Brazilian football, it seems that coaches have forgotten about running training (aerobic, anaerobic) so important to strengthen energy-producing systems for the footballer. I became a fellow at Real Madrid and I really appreciate the work of Antonius Pintus, who highly values continuous aerobic training and aerobic interval training. Here in Brazil it's a shame. Aerobism is not valued. Pure ignorance. Here at the FIFA/Brazil Medical Excellence Center we have warned.

Huertas, for you this paper!

Thanks a lot for your reflections and paper!!! Of course, sometimes I think that, in many cases, the "nature selection" and "survivance" makes that the better players (with higher VO2max rates) reach the proffesional level. However I think that , it is slowly changing, at least in European football, due the increase of percentage of sport scientist working in grassroots. Better educational profile and, mainly garduated in sport sciences with better knowledge on physiological basis of performance and different training methologies (not only based on "fashion") improve the level of player from the basis.

I agree with you, our level of professionalism that guides the basic categories (youth) is very low. Noi football science has a hard way to go. Even more so in an underdeveloped country like Brazil. There is a lot of scientific basis lacking, there is a lot of practice by repetition, that is, what one does in a certain club, the other in a different club only repeats. SSGs are the biggest example. Unfortunately, there is some resistance from football professionals to adopting science to improve their skills.

Thanks

The vast majority of football professionals in Brazil lack their own identity. I believe that you people from Europe can't even imagine this issue like that. What counts here is the skill of the athlete. Don't think that Brazil has won 5 world cups because the structure of Brazilian football is wonderful in every way. My friend, unfortunately, I say no!!!!!

Thanks