Structure of Football on the Basis of Situational Efficiency Indicators of World Championships 2010, 2014, 2018

Abstract

The aim of this research was to determine the structure of football through indicators of situational efficiency in world championship matches. The research sample consisted of 370 soccer players who played all 90 minutes of the Round of 16 matches of the three world soccer championships WC2010 (N = 124), WC2014 (N = 126) and WC2018 (N = 120). 30 variables of situational efficiency were used, which were taken from the official website of the World Football Federation (www.fifa.com). To determine the structure of football, we used factor analysis, the method of principal components with oblique direct oblimin transformation was used, and the Kaiser-Gutman criterion was used to determine the significance of the extracted factors. Analyzing the results, the explanation of the common variance was the highest at WC 2010 (83.52 %), followed by WC 2014 (81.97 %), and the lowest explained variance was at WC 2018 (76.30 %). In the structure of football at WC 2010 and WC 2014, 6 latent factors were singled out, and at WC 2018, 4 latent factors were singled out, which are differently saturated with situational indicators. We conclude that changes have occurred in the structure of football over a period of 8 years, which is shown by the number and structure of factors that have been fished out. The structure of football has changed in such a way that the number of factors has been reduced from 6 to 4, and the structure of isolated factors clearly defines modern football. Based on the results, the guidelines and standards on which football training should be based can be clearly determined, while using certain training tools, training stimuli and appropriate training loads in order to achieve a high level of physical preparation, a high level of technique in movement, a high rhythm of the game and tactical maturity of football players.