Morphological and physical fitness characteristics of iranian young elite soccer boy players according to their field positions

The aim of this study was to evaluate the morphological and physical fitness characteristics of young elite soccer boy players, as well as verifying the differences among field positions: goalkeepers (n = 13), defenders (n = 41), midfielders (n = 40), and strikers (n = 26) in the studied variables. The sample was composed by 120 members of the first Iranian national league (16.57 ± 0.49 years) of the young elite boy students of the Khuzestan state in the curriculum year 2010–11. All the evaluations were accomplished during the competitive period. Body composition was determined through skin folds measurement and both of the fitness and anthropometric tests data obtained through usual daily practice of soccer teams. The goalkeepers were the tallest and heaviest (185.46± 9.47cm; 71.46 ± 12.63 kg) and had significantly higher amounts of leg and arm lengths, upper arm and forearm girths, lean body mass, fat mass and fat %, and knee, elbow and biacromial diameters, but in fitness tests were not observed significantly differences with other athletes, on the other hand, the strikers in the rate of body mass and fat tissue% were the least; the defenders and the midfielders in the 10m-sprint test were the worst and the best, respectively. The defenders and the strikers in the sit and reach test showed the worst and the best, respectively. The midfielders and the strikers in the leg press test showed the best and the worst, respectively. All these data were observed as a statistical significant (P<0.05). Thus, we can conclude that there are anthropometric and physical fitness differences among the players and their tactical positions.