The authors express acknowledgement of all coaches and playing staff for cooperation
during all collection procedures.
This research was supported by the Douro Higher Institute of Educational Sciences and the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, I.P. (project UIDB04045/2021).
Training load monitoring has become a relevant research-practice gap to
control training and match demands in team sports. However, there are no systematic reviews about
accumulated training and match load in football. (2) Methods: Following the preferred reporting
item for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA), a systematic search of relevant Englishlanguage
articles was performed from earliest record to March 2020. The search included
descriptors relevant to football, training load, and periodization. (3) Results: The literature search
returned 7972 articles (WoS = 1204; Pub-Med = 869, SCOPUS = 5083, and SportDiscus = 816). After
screening, 36 full-text articles met the inclusion criteria and were reviewed. Eleven of the included
articles analyzed weekly training load distribution; fourteen, the weekly training load and match
load distribution; and eleven were about internal and external load relationships during training.
The reviewed articles were based on short-telemetry systems (n = 12), global positioning tracking
systems (n = 25), local position measurement systems (n = 3), and multiple-camera systems (n = 3).
External load measures were quantified with distance and covered distance in different speed zones
(n = 27), acceleration and deceleration (n = 13) thresholds, accelerometer metrics (n = 11), metabolic
power output (n = 4), and ratios/scores (n = 6). Additionally, the internal load measures were
reported with perceived exertion (n = 16); heart-rate-based measures were reported in twelve
studies (n = 12). (4) Conclusions: The weekly microcycle presented a high loading variation and a
limited variation across a competitive season. The magnitude of loading variation seems to be
influenced by the type of week, player’s starting status, playing positions, age group, training mode
and contextual variables. The literature has focused mainly on professional men; future research
should be on the youth and female accumulated training/match load monitoring.
