Influence of the COVID-19 lockdown on Spanish professional soccer teams’ external demands according to their on-field ranking

The main objective of this study was to analyse the changes in external demand parameters (e.g., total distance, high-speed running distance, accelerations/decelerations) in Spanish professional soccer teams after the COVID-19 lockdown considering their on-field ranking (i.e., teams whose ranking worsened after the COVID-19 lockdown [WRS] vs. teams that improved their ranking after the COVID-19 lockdown [IMP]). A total of 23,527 individual match observations were collected on players competing during the 2019/20 season in the First Spanish Professional soccer League (LaLiga). Goalkeepers and players who participated for less than 10 minutes in each match were excluded. Relative total distance (TD/min), distance covered at 21–24 km·h-1 (HIRD/min) and > 24 km·h-1 per minute (VHIRD/min), high metabolic load distance (HMLD), and the number of accelerations (3 m/s2 ) and decelerations (