Competition-level and positional differences in match running performance of Vietnamese professional soccer players: a GPS-based season analysis.

INTRODUCTION

This study aimed to quantify the match-running performance of Vietnamese professional football players utilizing global positioning system (GPS) technology and investigate variations based on competition level and position and establish a composite performance score (CPS) framework for player assessment and categorization.

METHODS

A longitudinal observational study was executed throughout the 2024-2025 season, encompassing 57 official matches involving six professional clubs from V-League 1 and V-League 2, comprised 497 player-match observations from 160 outfield players. External-load variables were gathered utilizing 10 Hz GPS devices and encompassed total distance (TD), maximum velocity (Vmax), high-speed running distance (HSR), sprint distance and accelerations/decelerations. Statistical analyses included independent-samples t-tests, one-way ANOVA with Tukey HSD post hoc comparisons and correlation analyses. V-League 1 players displayed significantly greater HSR, sprint distance, Vmax, accelerations and decelerations (p < 0.05) than V-League 2 players but TD was similar between competition levels.

RESULTS

There were significant differences between positions for TD, TD/90, Vmax, HSR and sprint distance (all p < 0.001) with forwards showing the greatest high-intensity locomotor outputs and defenders covering the greatest running volumes. The performance of Vietnamese players in HSR and sprint-related areas was significantly lower than elite European benchmarks. CPS classification indicated that the majority of observations were classified as Average (57.5%) with Elite classifications only accounting for 3.1% of observations.

BACKGROUND

These findings indicate that high-intensity locomotor capacity is an important physical determinant in professional Vietnamese football and that the CPS framework provides a practical multidimensional tool for performance profiling, individualized training and longitudinal athlete monitoring.