Analyzing the Differences in the Match Movement of European and Asian Men's Soccer Players : Focusing on the 2018 FIFA Russia World Cup Qualifiers

Objectives The purpose of this study was to compare intercontinental differences in movement distances during matches among players from European and Asian teams in the 2018 FIFA World Cup. Methods For this study, official World Cup data provided by FIFA were collected, and the collected data were analyzed using SPSS 25.0 to analyze the difference between the two continents according to match results and positions through a preprocessing process of adding information on continents, positions, and match results. Results First, Asian players showed greater overall movement distance in the qualifiers. Second, in terms of positional differences, European forwards and defenders covered more distance during ball possession, while there was no significant difference among midfielders. Third, regarding match outcomes, Asian players ran more in winning and drawing matches, whereas European players covered more distance in losing matches. Fourth, there was no difference in movement distance between the two continents when analyzed by speed zone. Conclusions These results confirm that the movement characteristics of the two continents during the World Cup qualifiers and can serve as foundational data for designing position-specific training protocols and developing strategies for physical conditioning.