INTRODUCTION: High-performance football is demanding and depends on several factors (1). The role of the coach is to achieve high levels of performance according to the club´s objectives, which are related with results (2). When the performance is not optimal, one of the strategies to address the problem is to change the coach, looking for a "winning effect" (3) in the following matches to improve the results achieved. The aim of the study is to analyse the effects of replace the coach, in the technical, tactical, and physical aspects, with the hypothesis that these performance variables would be increased. METHODS: The coach substitutions were made during the 2020-2021 season in LaLiga Santander, Spanish 1st football division (n = 7). To compare the performance of the team with the old coach and the new one, the last 8 and 4 matches before and the 4 and 8 after the change of coach was taken, analysing a total of 103 matches. Variables per match of each of the teams were provided by LaLigaTM and extracted using Mediacoach® and TRACAB®. These variables were related with performance (points per game, goals for and against), technical (nº of possessions, passes, shots on goal and shots received), tactical (width and length team average, offensive and defensive centroid) and physical performance (total distance, sprint, and high sprint, the number of efforts in each category and speed in team and opponent own). To make the comparison, a paired t - test was carried out between the 4 and 8 weeks before and after. RESULTS: An increase in the points achieved, the total distance travelled, and the number of sprints after the change of coach was observed in both situations (4 and 8 weeks). The number of efforts at high sprint and the sprint and high sprint distance presented an increase with the new coach in the comparison between 4 weeks, while in the 8 weeks comparison, teams scored more goals, shots on goal, and greater speed in their own field when the coach changed. CONCLUSION: Although high sports performance can be influenced by many factors, coach substitution could be an effective strategy when the expected performance of the team is not obtained, giving rise to different technical and physical performance variables.
© Copyright 2022 27th Annual Congress of the European College of Sport Science (ECSS), Sevilla, 30. Aug - 2. Sep 2022. Published by Faculty of Sport Science - Universidad Pablo de Olavide. All rights reserved.