Association between competitive altitude and external load indicators in professional football players
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47197/retos.v83.119227Keywords:
Altitude , football, GPS , load monitoring, contextual variablesAbstract
Introduction: Football requires understanding how contextual factors influence performance. Competition at different altitudes, particularly in Colombia, may modify the physical demands imposed on players.
Objective: To analyze the association between competitive altitude and external load indicators in football players from Bogotá Fútbol Club, considering playing time and repeated measures by player.
Methodology: A non-experimental, retrospective, longitudinal, and analytical study with repeated measures was conducted in 22 players across 16 matches. Data were obtained from competition records, and the unit of analysis was the player-match observation. External load indicators were assessed using GPS: Player Load per minute, high-speed running, maximum speed, and sprints. Altitude was classified as low altitude, moderate altitude, and high altitude according to physiological ranges, and playing time was categorized as ≤70 min and >70 min. The main analysis used mixed models, with player as a random effect; for sprints, a count model was applied, and generalized estimating equations were used as sensitivity analysis.
Results and discussion: No significant differences attributable to altitude were observed, nor was there an altitude × playing time interaction. In contrast, playing >70 min was associated with higher PLD/min, HSR, and sprint values. Maximum speed showed a small difference associated with playing time and should be interpreted with caution.
Conclusions: There was insufficient evidence to state that altitude modified the evaluated external load indicators. Playing time was related to higher loads, especially cumulative variables. These results should be interpreted considering the imbalance between altitude categories and the reduced number of independent players.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Alexcys Herney Ciprian Sarmiento, Johan Ramiro Carrera Hurtado, Julián David Galeano Virgen, Javier Gaviria Chavarro, Miguel Ángel Gómez García, Carlos Julio Grisales Guerra, Juan Carlos Ortegón Castaño
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