Performance profiles and match-to-match variability of the most demanding passages during the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022: the effect of playing positions and match contextual factors

Understanding how player performance profiles and match-to-match variability differ across playing positions in short competitions can provide insight into how players adapt to dynamic, match-related environments. This study investigated the most demanding passages of kinematic (running distance; MDPk) activity during the 2022 FIFA World Cup, focusing on player profile and match-to-match variability for five different positions and considering various contextual factors: tournament phase, team ranking, match status, and match outcome. The MDPk (> 15 km/h) was identified across three rolling average durations (1-, 3-, and 5-minutes(min)) and analyzed according to its constituent variables, moderate-speed running (MSR), high-speed running (HSR), and sprinting (SPR), as well as the total distance covered (TD) within each epoch. Effect sizes were used to assess differences in player performance profiles and match-to-match variability across positions according to all contextual factors. Regarding players’ performance profiles, trivial to moderate effects were observed across all contextual factors, with a stronger influence in match status. Where higher distances were recorded, when the team was winning, for full-backs in the 5-min window TD (d = -0.41 [-0.61; -0.21]), and MSR (d = -0.42 [-0.62; -0.22]) and for center forward in the 3-min window SPR (d = -0.58 [-0.87; -0.28]). All positions showed small to large match-to-match variability effects across different contexts. This was particularly evident for top tier teams, where higher variability was noted in the 1-min window for central defenders in TD (d = -0.51 [-1.12; -0.01]), MDPk (d = -0.74 [-1.32; -0.17]) and SPR (d = -0.71 [-1.17; -0.12]). Similar achieved by central midfielder, with higher variability in MDPk in 3-min window (d = -0.55 [-1.07; -0.07]) and 5-min window (d = -0.79 [-1.35; -0.24]). These findings provide deeper insight into MDP profile and variability for each position based on different rolling average durations and specific contextual factors during an international tournament, thereby offering valuable context for player performance analysis.