The contextual factors related to training tasks can play an important role in how a player performs and, subsequently, in how a player trains to face a competition. To date, there has been no study that has investigated the most demanding exercise in different training tasks in female futsal. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the most demanding efforts during different training tasks in a cohort study conducted in professional biological women futsal players using principal component analysis (PCA). A total of 14 elite women futsal players (age = 24.34 ± 4.51 years; height = 1.65 ± 0.60 m; body mass = 63.20 ± 5.65 kg) participated in this study. Seventy training sessions of an elite professional women’s team were registered over five months (pre-season and in-season). Different types of exercises were grouped into six clusters: preventive exercises; analytical situations; exercises in midcourt; exercises in ¾ of the court; exercises in full court; superiorities/inferiorities. Each exercise cluster was composed of 5–7 principal components (PCs), considering from 1 to 5 main variables forming each, explaining from 65 to 75% of the physical total variance. A total of 13–19 sub-variables explained the players’ efforts in each training task group. The first PCs to explain the total variance of training load were as follows: preventive exercises (accelerations; ~31%); analytical situations (impacts; ~23%); exercises in midcourt (high-intensity efforts; ~28%); exercises in ¾ of the court (~27%) and superiorities/inferiorities (~26%) (aerobic/anaerobic components); exercises in full court (anaerobic efforts; ~24%). The PCs extracted from each exercise cluster provide evidence that may assist researchers and coaches during training load monitoring. The descriptive values of the training load support a scientific base to assist coaches in the planning of training schedules.

The current study analysed Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) specific to high-performing female futsal players using univariate and multivariate statistical approaches to better understand team dynamics in conjunction with individual performance. Data were collected from a sample of 10 female futsal players (mean age: 23.9 ± 3.4 years) over 25 official matches of the Spanish first division. Twenty KPIs were selected in collaboration with coaches and researchers to represent diverse offensive and defensive aspects of play. This study used observational methods and principal component analysis (PCA) to reduce the dimensionality of data and determine key performance factors. Descriptive statistics and factor analysis were conducted, with Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO = 0.63) values and communalities evaluated for sampling adequacy. PCA shown two main components explaining 64.09% of the total variance. The first component, “ Aggressiveness in Attack ”, (47.02% variance), was strongly associated with offensive production, including high rates of goal plays, shots, goals, assists, and fouls received. The second component, “ Forceful Defence ” (17.07% variance), primarily reflected defensive effectiveness, characterized by high rates of successful disputes, ball recoveries, and defensive intensity indicators, along with fewer ball losses. Individual player profiles revealed distinct tactical roles, with some players showing strong tendencies toward either offensive or defensive abilities. In conclusion, the use of multivariate analyses provides valuable insights into the performance of women's futsal, offering practical implications for coaches and players seeking to improve strategies and enhance individual and team performance through data-informed training and tactical planning.

Purpose: To investigate the internal training loads of a professional Spanish female futsal team throughout 26 weeks of training including preseason and in-season weeks and verify the impact of training period and/or training load magnitudes on heart-rate variability responses. Furthermore, we aimed to assess, intraindividually, the relationship between training load and the coefficient of variation (CV) of weekly natural log of the root mean square difference of successive normal interbeat (RR) intervals (lnRMSSD_CV), obtained from ∼5 measures per week, and recorded in the seated position. Methods: A within-subject design involved 12 high-level outfield female futsal players (mean [SD] age: 23.9 [3.4] y). Results: lnRMSSD was significantly lower and lnRMSSD_CV was significantly higher during the preseason (weeks 1–6) compared to in-season (weeks 7–26) (P < .001). Individually, players presented moderate to large negative correlations between lnRMSSD_CV and lnRMSSD during the 26 weeks of observation. Correlations ranged between r_player4 = −.41 (95% CI, −.69 to −.02) and r_player12 = −.55 (−.78 to −.18). Players also presented moderate to very large positive correlations between lnRMSSD_CV and session rating of perceived exertion. Correlations ranged between r_player7 = .41 (.04 to .71) and r_player1 = .71 (.45 to .86). Conclusion: Professional female futsal players in this study presented increased lnRMSSD and reduced lnRMSSD_CV during 20 weeks into the competitive season compared to 6 weeks of preseason. Furthermore, lnRMSSD_CV was negatively associated with lnRMSSD on an intraindividual basis. Finally, higher internal training loads were positively correlated with lnRMSSD_CV, indicating that heart-rate variability is responsive to weekly training loads.