Contextual factors affect on external load of a soccer team from the Persian Gulf Pro League

The study aims to compare global positioning systems variables of a first Iranian league team among different match results and the opponent's team level considering the match location. Nineteen wins, three losses, and eight draws, in which 15 matches played at home and 15 away matches against four top-level, six medium-level, and six bottom-level teams were analysed. Duration of the training session, total distance (TD), acceleration zone 1 (AccZ1) (<2 m/s ² ), AccZ2 (2 to 4 m/s ² ), and AccZ3 (>4 m/s ² ), deceleration zone1 (DecZ1) (<−2 m/s ² ), DecZ2 (−2 to −4 m/s ² ), and DecZ3 (>−4 m/s ² ), new body load (NBL), running symmetries footstrikes (RSF), metabolic power average, high-metabolic-power distance (HMPD), repeated sprints (RS), sprint maximal acceleration, sprint total distance (STD), work rate interval count (WRIC), duration (WRID), and distance (WRIDis) were collected from 21 players. The dataset showed lower values of RS in draw matches than in the winning matches in RS. Also, lower values of RS in loss matches than in the winning matches were found. The results showed that when playing with top-level teams TD, AccZ1, AccZ2, DecZ1, DecZ2, NBL, STD, DecZ2, HMPD, WRIC, WRID, and WRID were significantly higher than against middle-level teams. It was also shown that when playing with top-level teams, RSF, and RS data was significantly higher compared to bottom-level teams, in the game with top-level teams. Coaches should consider that some variables, such as NBL and SR, are more sensitive than others and directly relate to the team's competition success rate.