First vs. Second Half Match Running Performance in Professional Football: Insights from GPS Tracking

This study aimed to determine whether there are differences in the running performance of football players between the first and second halves. For this study, 10 professional outfield football players from FK Budućnost (Podgorica, Montenegro), who competed in the Montenegrin First League during the 2022/23 season, were analyzed. They had participated in the full duration of both halves in a single match. Using Global Positioning System (GPS) technology (K-Sport Universal, Montelabbate, Italy), players' MRP was analyzed based on 13 variables related to distances at var- ious intensities, total distance, number of sprints, high acceleration/deceleration metrics, distance per minute, maxi- mum speed, and heart rate parameters. The results showed that there were differences between the first and second halves in eight out of thirteen MRP parameters, including distance at very high-intensity speed (p=0.018), distance at sprinting speed (p=0.022), number of sprints (p=0.027), distance at very high deceleration (p=0.023), distance per minute (p=0.014), maximum speed (p=0.007), number of decelerations (p=0.008), and average heart rate (p=0.034). The main findings indicate that players demonstrated significantly higher levels of physical and physiological perfor- mance in the first half compared to the second. Our results show that due to the high demands of football matches, players’ performance tends to decline and is difficult to maintain at the desired level. Although our findings are note- worthy, they should be interpreted with caution, as the study involved a relatively small sample size.