Author(s): LI, N.1, TAN, Z.1, LIU, J.2, Institution: SHANGHAI RESEARCH INSTITUTE OF SPORTS SCIENCE, Country: CHINA, Abstract-ID: 1457

INTRODUCTION:
Sleep is essential for overall health, athletic performance, and recovery due to its physiological and psychological restorative functions. Football competitions involve frequent contextual variations—such as home versus away matches, day versus night games, and differing match outcomes—which may influence athletes’ sleep patterns.This study examined the effects of match-related contextual factors, including match location, match timing, and match outcomes, on sleep duration and sleep quality in professional adult female football players.
METHODS:
An observational repeated-measures design was employed. Sleep diaries were used to record daily sleep duration and quality across 22 league matches (home-and-away format, one match per week). Match location (home/away), match timing (day/night), and match outcome (win/draw/loss) were documented for each game. Thirty-three professional adult female football players participated (mean age 24.42 ± 3.61 years; height 169.08 ± 5.68 cm; weight 61.21 ± 6.58 kg). All data are presented as mean ± standard deviation (SD). Sleep data were analysed using two approaches: independent-samples t-tests compared sleep differences between home versus away and day versus night matches, while one-way ANOVA examined the effects of match outcomes on sleep variables. When significant differences were identified, post hoc analyses were conducted using Tukey and Bonferroni corrections. A linear mixed-effects model with individual random intercepts was constructed to test the fixed effects of match-related contextual factors. Statistical significance was set at P ≤ 0.05. All analyses were performed using IBM SPSS Statistics 20.
RESULTS:
The league spanned from March to September and included 22 matches (13 wins, 5 draws, 4 losses, 13 day matches, and 11 night matches). Sleep duration was significantly longer following home matches than away matches (7.52 ± 0.89 vs. 7.30 ± 0.71 hours; P < 0.05). Following day matches, both sleep duration and sleep quality were higher than after night matches sleep duration(7.70 ± 0.60 vs. 7.11 ± 1.25 hours); sleep quality score(7.66 ± 0.92 vs. 7.11 ± 1.25; P < 0.05). Sleep quality was lower after draws compared with both wins and losses (7.05 ± 1.41 vs. 7.53 ± 0.95 vs. 7.51 ± 1.01; P < 0.05). Linear mixed-effects modelling indicated that sleep duration was primarily influenced by match outcomes (F = 4.45, P < 0.05) and match timing (F = 97.51, P < 0.05). Sleep quality was significantly affected by match outcomes (F = 9.29, P < 0.05) and match timing (F = 24.32, P < 0.05), with a significant interaction between outcome and timing (F = 7.98, P < 0.05).
CONCLUSION:
Night matches and unfavourable match outcomes were associated with significantly reduced sleep duration and quality in professional female football players. Post-match recovery strategies should therefore be tailored according to match timing and outcomes to optimise sleep management.