The current study verified the acute responses of participants to a football match in terms of blood markers. Sixteen elite U-18 male football players were divided into two groups: experimental (EG, n = 10), who played a friendly football match; and control (CG), who were not exposed to any physical exertion. Intravenous blood samples were collected from both groups at baseline, pre-match, half-time, and post-match. The blood analysis consisted of four groups: immunological (leukocytes, platelets, and cortisol), muscle damage (creatine kinase and lactate dehydrogenase), metabolic (lactate, glucose, erythrocytes, hematocrit, hemoglobin, and urea), and electrolytic (sodium, calcium, and potassium). Edwards` training impulse demonstrated that the first half was more demanding than the second half (p = 0.020). Significant changes between time points and groups were observed for leukocytes (pre-match: 6920 ± 1949; post-match: 13,890 ± 3292; p = 0.05) and cortisol (pre-match: 10.78 ± 3.63; post-match: 19.15 ± 7.40; p = 0.05). CK (pre-match: 516.50 ± 248.38; post-match: 713.70 ± 308.20; p = 0.05) and LDH (pre-match: 348.80 ± 36.49; post-match: 414.80 ± 26.55; p = 0.05) increased significantly across the time points for the EG, with no difference between the groups, however. Raised lactate (pre-match: 1.05 ± 0.32; post-match: 3.24 ± 1.60; p = 0.05) and glucose (pre-match: 72.54 ± 9.76; post-match: 101.42 ± 19.87; p = 0.05) differences between the groups at half-time were also observed. These current findings provide helpful information to better understand football match demands regarding physiological effects.
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