ReviewEuropean journal of applied physiology2018
Effects of recreational football on women's fitness and health: adaptations and mechanisms.
Review in European journal of applied physiology, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 37 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
37 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 68 citations in OpenAlex.
- Intervention Effects of Recreational Football on Obesity-Related Health Outcomes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Journal of sports science & medicine · 2026Pooled it
- Injury Profile in Women's Football: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2021Pooled it
- Broad-spectrum physical fitness benefits of recreational football: a systematic review and meta-analysis.British journal of sports medicine · 2019Pooled it
- 15 weeks of soccer training increases left ventricular mass and improves indices of left ventricular diastolic function in previously sedentary, mildly hypertensive, middle-aged women.European journal of applied physiology · 2024Trial
- Health and performance effects of 12 weeks of small-sided street football training compared to grass football training in habitually active young men.European journal of applied physiology · 2024Trial
- Evaluation of a football fitness implementation initiative for an older adult population in a small-scale island society.Frontiers in public health · 2024Trial
- Impact of a novel home-based exercise intervention on health indicators in inactive premenopausal women: a 12-week randomised controlled trial.European journal of applied physiology · 2020Trial
- Gender-dependent evaluation of football as medicine for prediabetes.European journal of applied physiology · 2019Trial
- Cardiovascular, muscular, and skeletal adaptations to recreational team handball training: a randomized controlled trial with young adult untrained men.European journal of applied physiology · 2019Trial
- Feasibility and Health Effects of a 15-Week Combined Exercise Programme for Sedentary Elderly: A Randomised Controlled Trial.BioMed research international · 2019Trial
- Changes in Segmental Body Composition in Children Practicing Martial Arts, Swimming and Team Sports.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Recreational football training preserves bone health in women over 9 years during the menopause transition.Biology of sport · 2026Article
- Scaling success: parental perceptions of the benefits of a 20-week football living-lab approach for children living with cerebral palsy.BMJ paediatrics open · 2025Article
- Walking Football as a Multidimensional Intervention for Healthy Aging: A Scoping Review of Physical and Functional Outcomes in Older Adults.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025Article
- Physiological and Psychological Effects of Short-Term Recreational Football in Adults 60.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2024Article
- Potential Effects of Lifelong Team Handball and Football Training and Nutritional Habits on Bone Health and Body Composition in Elderly Women.Journal of functional morphology and kinesiology · 2024Article
- Vitamin D levels and bone mineral density of middle-aged premenopausal female football and volleyball players in Japan: a cross-sectional study.BMC sports science, medicine & rehabilitation · 2024Article
- Article
- Football Fitness as a meaningful driver of occupational identity in female breast cancer survivors.The British journal of occupational therapy · 2023Article
- Relationship between Football-Specific Training Characteristics and Tibial Bone Adaptation in Male Academy Football Players.Sports (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 5 institutions in 5 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The review describes the fitness and health effects of recreational football in women aged 18-65 years. The review documents that 2 × 1 h of recreational football training for 12-16 weeks causes marked improvements in maximal oxygen uptake (5-15%) and myocardial function in women. Moreover, mean arterial blood pressure was shown to decrease by 2-5 mmHg in normotensive women and 6-8 mmHg in hypertensive women. This review also show that short-term (< 4 months) and medium-term (4-16 months) recreational football training has major beneficial impact on metabolic health profile in women, with fat losses of 1-3 kg and improvements in blood lipid profile. Lastly, 2 × 1 h per week of recreational football training for women elevates lower extremity bone mineralisation by 1-5% and whole-body bone mineralization by 1-2% within 4-12-month interventions. These training adaptations are related to the high heart rates, high number of fast runs, and multiple changes of direction and speed occurring during recreational football training for untrained women. In conclusion, regular small-sided football training for women is an intense and versatile type of training that combines elements of high-intensity interval training (HIIT), endurance training and strength training, thereby providing optimal stimuli for cardiovascular, metabolic and musculoskeletal fitness. Recreational football, therefore, seems to be an effective tool for prevention and treatment of lifestyle diseases in young and middle-aged women, including hypertension, type 2 diabetes and osteopenia. Future research should elucidate effects of football training for elderly women, and as treatment and rehabilitation of breast cancer patients and other women patient groups.
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Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.