Football officials activities during matches: a comparison of activity of referees and linesmen in European, Premiership and Championship matches.

We compared the notational activity of 68 referees and 170 referee's assistants or linesmen officiating European matches from UEFA and the Champions League together with matches from the English Premiership and the English Championship competitions during the 2005/2006 football season using a computerised video system. We studied 328 games (14 European matches, UEFA and Champions league, 202 matches from the English Premiership and 112 from the English Championship). Referees covered a mean overall distance of 11.634 km, and assistants 6.508 km per match. Both referees and assistant referees covered significantly shorter distances jogging, running and high speed running in the second half compared to the first. There is a significant negative correlation between the distance covered and activity of officials compared with competition standard. Although we have demonstrated a negative correlation between distance covered and activity and competition standard, the physical activity across all competitions was intense and this reaffirms the high levels of fitness required by officials.