Cardiocirculatory Stress in Professional Football (Soccer) Coaches

It was intended to quantify cardiocirculatory stress and risk of professional football (soccer) coaches during competition. DESIGN: Descriptive cross-sectional study. SETTING: Medical screening examination and measurements during match. PARTICIPANTS: Seventeen coaches and 11 assistant coaches of the 2 highest German football leagues (male coaches; 46 ± 7 years; 8 ± 7 years in job). INDEPENDENT VARIABLES: Professional football matches with highly competitive character were chosen and monitored for elicited cardiocirculatory stress and possible damage. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Indicators of general health status, occurrence of arrhythmias, and course of heart rate and cardiac biomarkers (brain natriuretic peptide [BNP], troponin I) during the match. RESULTS: Besides a few preexisting cardiovascular diseases, medical screening revealed a risk factor profile similar to the general population and above-average maximal/submaximal cycle ergometry performance: P(max) 2.9 ± 0.5 W*kg(−1); PWC(130) 1.9 ± 0.5 W*kg(−1). No match-induced changes were detected for BNP (20.5 ± 9.4 to 19.7 ± 10.7 pg/mL; P = 0.48) and troponin I (12.6 ± 16.5 to 10.5 ± 14.1 ng/L; P = 0.31). Maximal heart rate during the first and second half was 127 ± 15 and 132 ± 19 beats per minute, respectively. No match-induced arrhythmias of higher degree were detected. CONCLUSIONS: Head and assistant coaches of German professional football teams do not show any match-induced cardiac damage, despite considerable cardiocirculatory stress. Possibly, their above-average fitness level saves them from more detrimental outcomes.