The influence of distance travelled on teams’ performance indicators of Brazilian championship series A in the 2015-2019 seasons

Abstract

The present study presents the following objectives: i) verify the performance indicators of the teams of the Brazilian Championship A Series from the years 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019 regarding the distances travelled to the matches; ii) compare the score achieved per match according to the quality of the opponent and distance travelled. All games of the Brazilian Championship Series A of 2015 until 2019 were considered for sample. The data were collected on the InStatScout website (InStat Limited, Limerick, Ireland); the CBF website was used to consult the match venue and the quality of the teams (www.cbf.com.br). The distances travelled in a straight line were calculated on a specialized website. The results showed that the teams that did not travel presented better offensive and defensive performance indexes (p<0,001) and higher scores per match (p<0,001). The teams that made long trips (>1000km) showed greater deficits in performance indices (p<0,001). Teams tended to earn fewer points per match when facing high-quality opponents (p<0,001), and the score decreased with long trips (p<0,001). Thus, travel logistics are fundamental and another factor to be considered by the technical committees when planning the training loads and strategies for the matches.