{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,16]],"date-time":"2026-10-16T17:43:42Z","timestamp":1792172622135,"version":"4.4.0"},"reference-count":23,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,1,24]],"date-time":"2025-01-24T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1737676800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS ONE"],"abstract":"<jats:sec id=\"sec001\">\n<jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>The match physical demands placed on soccer referees are intrinsically connected to their capacity to make accurate judgments, becoming the second most studied theme in associate soccer refereeing.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec id=\"sec002\">\n<jats:title>Objective<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>This study aims to review the external and internal load performed by soccer referees in high-level competitions, to identify changes in these indicators over different periods as the competition progresses, and to analyze the standards for dividing speed zones and heart rate zones.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec id=\"sec003\">\n<jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, and EBSCOhost were thoroughly searched. Grey literature sources and Google Scholar were also consulted, with a focus on analysing and comparing the physical demands of soccer referees at different phases of high-level matches.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec id=\"sec004\">\n<jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>A total of 14 manuscripts were included in this review. Studies revealed that <jats:bold>the<\/jats:bold> total distance (TD) covered by referees during a full match ranged from 9 to 12 km. High-intensity running (HIR) constituted 2.0\u201318.7% of TD, accounting for approximately 38% of total time (TT). Referees reached 80\u2013100% of their maximal heart rate during matches. The standards for dividing speed zones and heart rate zones varied among the selected studies.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec id=\"sec005\">\n<jats:title>Discussion<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>This systematic review aimed to provide a comprehensive overview of referees\u2019 physical demands (e.g., TD, HIR, and HR) to offer practitioners valuable biological data for training and competition preparation. The lack of uniform criteria for dividing speed and heart rate zones limits data collection, thereby affecting the reporting of distances covered at different exercise intensities.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0315403","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,1,24]],"date-time":"2025-01-24T18:49:31Z","timestamp":1737744571000},"page":"e0315403","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":8,"title":["Physical demands and physiological response of soccer referees in high-level matches: A systematic review"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"20","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0003-2243-423X","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Lingling","family":"Zhang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Soh Kim","family":"Geok","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Mohd Rozilee Wazir Norjali","family":"Wazir","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Liang","family":"Qin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,1,24]]},"reference":[{"issue":"2","key":"pone.0315403.ref001","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"179","DOI":"10.1080\/02640410310001641502","article-title":"Physical and perceptual-cognitive demands of top-class refereeing in association football","volume":"22","author":"W Helsen","year":"2004","journal-title":"Journal of Sports Sciences"},{"issue":"5","key":"pone.0315403.ref002","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1383","DOI":"10.1519\/JSC.0b013e31825183c5","article-title":"Physical and physiological demands of field and assistant soccer referees during America\u2019s cup.","volume":"26","author":"J Barbero-\u00c1lvarez","year":"2012","journal-title":"J Strength Cond Res."},{"issue":"2","key":"pone.0315403.ref003","first-page":"388","article-title":"Intermatch var iation of match activity in elite Italian soccer referees","volume":"17","author":"C Castagna","year":"2003","journal-title":"Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research"},{"issue":"4","key":"pone.0315403.ref004","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"765","DOI":"10.1007\/s11332-020-00655-1","article-title":"Referees\u2019 physical performance over a soccer season.","volume":"16","author":"A Muscella","year":"2020","journal-title":"Sport Sciences for Health"},{"issue":"6","key":"pone.0315403.ref005","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"390","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jsams.2006.09.001","article-title":"Analysis of physical match performance in English Premier League soccer referees with particular reference to first half and player work rates","volume":"10","author":"M Weston","year":"2007","journal-title":"Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport"},{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0315403.ref006","article-title":"Physical performance and decision making in association football referees: A naturalistic study","volume":"2","author":"D. 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Mascarenhas","year":"2009","journal-title":"The Open Sports Sciences Journal"},{"key":"pone.0315403.ref007","article-title":"Physical demands on professional Spanish football referees during matches","author":"G Martinez-Torremocha","journal-title":"Science and Medicine in Football"},{"issue":"11","key":"pone.0315403.ref008","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"881","DOI":"10.1080\/026404101753113831","article-title":"Physiological demands of top-class soccer refereeing in relation to physical capacity: effect of intense intermittent exercise training","volume":"19","author":"P Krustrup","year":"2001","journal-title":"Journal of Sports Sciences"},{"issue":"3","key":"pone.0315403.ref009","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"263","DOI":"10.1080\/24733938.2022.2098372","article-title":"Match activity profile and heart rate responses of top-level soccer referees during Brazilian national first and second division and regional championships","volume":"7","author":"J Fernandes da Silva","year":"2023","journal-title":"Sci Med Footb"},{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0315403.ref010","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"58","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jsams.2022.10.006","article-title":"Intensity demands and peak performance of elite soccer referees during match play","volume":"26","author":"F Yousefian","year":"2023","journal-title":"Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport"},{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0315403.ref011","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"72","DOI":"10.1186\/s40798-023-00610-7","article-title":"A Systematic Review of the Physical, Physiological, Nutritional and Anthropometric Profiles of Soccer Referees.","volume":"9","author":"DV Martinho","year":"2023","journal-title":"Sports Med Open."},{"issue":"4","key":"pone.0315403.ref012","first-page":"1861","article-title":"Psychological characteristics of sports performance: Analysis of professional and semiprofessional football referees[J]","volume":"20","author":"H Aguirre-Loaiza","year":"2020","journal-title":"Journal of Physical Education and Sport"},{"key":"pone.0315403.ref013","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Preissler AA, Reichert T, Schons P, Costa RR, Delevatti RS, Denadai B, et al. 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