Soccer-drill specificity in top-class male players with reference to peak match locomotor demands.

To compare the locomotor demands of several ball/running drills with the official match peak, locomotor demands determined across different time-windows of the same duration in top-class male soccer players ( n  = 40). Total distance (TD), high-speed running (HSR, 15-20 km⋅h -1 ), very high-speed running (VHSR, 20-24 km⋅h -1 ), sprint and acceleration+deceleration (Acc+Dec >±3 m⋅s -2 ) distances were measured during training and official matches. A total of 9372 individual observations were classified as technical-tactical drills, small-sided games (SSGs), super-SSGs (pitch-area >340 m 2 ·player), SSGs with rules modifications (SSG modified ), individual positional drills or running drills. The relative (m·min -1 ) TD, HSR, VHSR, sprint and Acc+Dec were compared with the peak locomotor demands determined during official matches across different time-windows (1, 2, 3, 4 and 5-min). Individual position-specific drill, super-SSGs, SSG modified and running drills showed similar ( P  > 0.05) or higher ( P  < 0.05; ES:1.17/4.61) than match TD, HSR and VHSR, while sprint and Acc+Dec were lower ( P  < 0.05). Conversely, technical-tactical drills and SSGs showed lower ( P  < 0.05; ES:-1.00/-3.45) TD, HSR, VHSR, sprint and Acc+Dec than official match peak demands. Locomotor loads during technical-tactical drills and SSGs were lower than peak demands, particularly for VHSR and sprint. Since training intensity is a key factor for high-performance development, these results may help to prepare top-class players for the official match peak demands.