{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,15]],"date-time":"2026-10-15T06:50:42Z","timestamp":1792047042995,"version":"4.4.0"},"reference-count":29,"publisher":"Human Kinetics","issue":"10","content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2024,10,1]]},"abstract":"<jats:p><jats:italic><jats:bold>Objective:<\/jats:bold><\/jats:italic> To analyze the influence of congested and noncongested fixture periods during 2 seasons in a professional male football team on soft-tissue injury incidence and external load. <jats:italic><jats:bold>Methods:<\/jats:bold><\/jats:italic> Thirty-three professional football players from a Portuguese Liga I team participated in this study. Weekly external load and soft-tissue injury rate and burden of 2 consecutive seasons (2021\u201322 and 2022\u201323) were analyzed. <jats:italic><jats:bold>Results:<\/jats:bold><\/jats:italic> Total soft-tissue injury rate and burden for the 2 seasons were 3.9 and 3.2 injuries per 1000\u00a0hours and 71.8 and 60.5\u00a0days per 1000\u00a0hours for congested and noncongested periods, respectively. No significant differences were observed between congested and noncongested periods. Total high-speed running, sprint distance, distance above 80% and 90% of maximal velocity, and meters accelerating and decelerating above 2\u00a0m\/s<jats:sup>2<\/jats:sup> were significantly higher for noncongested weeks. Match accelerations and decelerations above 3\u00a0m\/s<jats:sup>2<\/jats:sup> were higher during congested periods and training during noncongested periods. No differences between the 2 periods were observed for the total number of accelerations and decelerations above 3\u00a0m\/s<jats:sup>2<\/jats:sup>. Overall, physical outputs per week were higher for training during noncongested weeks, whereas matches during congested periods registered higher external load. <jats:italic><jats:bold>Conclusions:<\/jats:bold><\/jats:italic> No effect of a congested schedule was observed on soft-tissue injury rates and injury burden. Higher match exposure during congested periods increased external load performed per week, and during noncongested periods, training load was superior to congested weeks.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1123\/ijspp.2024-0058","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,8,14]],"date-time":"2024-08-14T19:04:29Z","timestamp":1723662269000},"page":"1068-1075","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":5,"title":["External Training Loads and Soft-Tissue Injury Occurrence During Congested Versus Noncongested Periods in Football"],"prefix":"10.1123","volume":"19","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9982-6093","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Paulo","family":"Barreira","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Medical and Performance Department, Sporting Clube Portugal SAD, Lisbon, Portugal"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jo\u00e3o R.","family":"Vaz","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Egas Moniz Interdisciplinary Research Center, Egas Moniz School of Health and Science, Monte de Caparica, Portugal"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ruben","family":"Ferreira","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Medical and Performance Department, Sporting Clube Portugal SAD, Lisbon, Portugal"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jo\u00e3o Pedro","family":"Ara\u00fajo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Medical and Performance Department, Sporting Clube Portugal SAD, Lisbon, Portugal"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Francisco","family":"Tavares","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Medical and Performance Department, Sporting Clube Portugal SAD, Lisbon, Portugal"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"100","reference":[{"issue":"3","key":"r1","series-title":"Sports Med","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"667","DOI":"10.1007\/s40279-022-01799","article-title":"The effects of fixture congestion on injury in professional male soccer: a systematic review","volume":"53","author":"Page R","year":"2023","unstructured":"Page R, Field A, Langley B, et\u00a0al. 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