Objectives: The aim of this study was to examine the anthropometric and physiological factors that influence the acceleration (0-10 m) and maximum speed phases (10-20 m) of a repeated sprint ability (RSA) test. Equipment and methods: Thirty-six soccer players were tested for height, body mass, body fat percentage, sit-and-reach test, squat and countermovement jump, Wingate test, maximal aerobic running speed, 20 m sprint time (with 0-10 m and 10-20 m splits) and a 10 × 20 m RSA test. Results: The comparison between groups with different levels of RSA revealed that players with higher RSA had better scores in physical fitness than their counterparts with lower RSA (maximal aerobic speed +1.1 km.h-1, +7.1%; squat jump +4.5 cm, +14.2%; mean power in the Wingate test +0.4 W.kg-1, +4.6%; 20 m sprint -0.13 s, -4.1%; P < 0.05). The split 0-10 m and 10-20 m of the 20 m sprint test had similar correlations with the mean time of the RSA test (0.57 = r = 0.59, P < 0.001), but they had phase-dependent correlations with the mean time in the acceleration phase (r = 0.63, P < 0.001, vs. r = 0.32 ns) and maximum speed phase of the RSA test (r = 0.38, P < 0.05, vs. r = 0.74, P < 0.001). In conclusion, this study showed the existence of different physical fitness components that are related with each phase of RSA, suggesting that an analysis of separate phases of a RSA test can provide additional information for the training design. Therefore, players should focus on the physical fitness components associated with the specific phase in order to improve the performance in a targeted phase of RSA.
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