BACKGROUND: Sports competitions are significant sources of psychophysiological stress, especially for young athletes submitted to competitions in a congested match schedule. OBJECTIVE: In order to verify the effect of short recovery periods (24-hours) in the subsequent match, the response of salivary cortisol (sC) and match intensity were investigated in two successive soccer matches during an official tournament. METHODS: Twenty (20) young soccer players (16.8 ± 0.5 years; 172.9 ± 7.7 cm; 65.0 ± 7.9 kg) accepted to participate and 14 completed the 2 matches within a two day-period. Subjects provided saliva samples before and after each match and the session rate of perceived exertion, (session-RPE) method was utilized to define the match intensity. RESULTS: The sC concentration significantly increased in both matches ( < 0.05), representing an increase of 74% and 112% in matches 1 and 2, respectively. Moreover, the variation was not different between the matches ( > 0.05). There was no variation in match internal load for match 1 to match 2 ( > 0.05). A significant difference was noted between high and low salivary cortisol groups divided a posteriori into both matches (match 1: p < 0.001; ES: 2.7 and match 2: p < 0.001; ES: 2.3). CONCLUSIONS: The findings of this study indicate that the short recovery-time did not influence the sC and match internal load responses in the subsequent match. In addition, athletes with high responsiveness to the stressful demands of the matches tend to maintain this condition regardless of the time on field and the RPE reported.
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