How stamina – not skill – is key to becoming top footballer, study reveals
Research in Spain suggests the bigger the lungs and the quicker the recovery time, the better the player
The key to becoming a Premier League footballer is having stronger hearts and lungs - rather than more skill, according to new research.
Top stars like Harry Kane need less time to get their breath back than those who play at a lower level - even though their talent may be similar.
It is this extra endurance that is crucial to making the top flight - and the dream of the million-pound mansions and celebrity lifestyle.
Lead author Professor Francisco Montero said: "Regardless of a player's technical ability, the ability to repeat sprints is essential in soccer.
"Players may need to sprint every 90 seconds during a game - meaning the available recovery time will be short."
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Just a fraction of the millions of children who dream of stardom will make a living from the game let alone grace the Premier League or represent their country.
Prof Montero, of the Complutense University of Madrid, said: "We wanted to discover if the difference in the recovery time before the next sprint were linked to the level at which a soccer player competes."
In the first study of its kind his international team of scientists carried out maximum-effort tests with almost 200 footballers from Spain's La Liga 1 and 2 clubs.
They then measured the participants' oxygen consumption, heart rate and ventilation during recovery.
The results published in Physiological Measurement found their aptitude to recover after high-intensity runs did not depend on age - but the division in which they played.
Compared to first division players, second division ones took longer to get over exerting themselves to the optimum.
Prof Montero explained: "Our results showed second division players had higher oxygen consumption and heart rate than first division players after 90 seconds of recovery time.
"These differences were still clear after 180 seconds of recovery time.
"The second division players, therefore, took much longer to recover to the point where they were able to repeat the effort.
"They are therefore unlikely to be able to repeat sprints as often and as intensely as first division players."
A huge sample of 194 players from seven clubs in the Spanish Professional Football League took part.
They included 114 first and 80 second division players respectively and comprised 12 goalkeepers, 57 defenders, 86 midfielders and 39 strikers.
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All underwent the same maximum effort test. They first warmed up by running on a treadmill for two minutes at 4 km/h.
They increased their speed until they reached a heart rate of 120-130 bpm (beats per minute) - maintaining this for three minutes.
After this warm-up period they could rest to stabilise the respiratory quotient (RQ) - a ration of carbon dioxide to oxygen used in fitness tests.
The researchers recorded the players' CO2 production and RQ every 10 seconds.
The maximum effort test began at a speed of 6 km/h - and a one per cent slope.
The players' running speed increased by 2 km/h every two minutes until they reached maximum effort.
The players then underwent a three-minute period of active recovery.
Although the team found a difference in recovery time between players from divisions one and two, the position in which they played had no bearing on the results.
Corresponding author Dr Luca Paolo Ardigo, of Verona University, said: "A possible explanation may be the second division players always played in lesser category clubs with lower training demands.
"However, the players in our study showed no differences in self-declared duration of training or weekly recovery."
"It is possible that the intensity of training differed, and further study is needed to uncover whether this is a factor."