Carbohydrate Availability and Running Performance in Professional Male Footballers

Summary

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn how different daily carbohydrate intakes affect training performance in professional male football players during a pre-season training week.

The main questions it aims to answer are:

* Does a higher carbohydrate intake affect how much high-speed running and sprinting players complete during football training?
* Does a higher carbohydrate intake affect players' jumping performance, perceived effort, recovery, and daily readiness?

Researchers will compare two carbohydrate intakes. In one condition, participants will consume a moderate-carbohydrate diet. In the other condition, participants will consume the same base diet plus carbohydrate drinks. The drinks will look and taste similar, but only one type will contain extra carbohydrate.

Participants will complete both conditions during two pre-season training weeks. The order of the conditions will be randomized. This means participants will be assigned by chance to start with either the moderate-carbohydrate condition or the higher-carbohydrate condition.

During the study, participants will:

* Follow a standardized diet during each training week
* Drink three study beverages per day during each condition
* Take part in their regular team football training
* Wear a global positioning system device during training to measure running activity
* Complete countermovement jump tests during the training weeks
* Report their perceived effort, recovery, and daily readiness

This study will help researchers understand whether changing carbohydrate intake during a normal football training week affects training output and recovery-related measures in professional football players.

Conditions

• Carbohydrate Intake and Exercise Performance

Interventions

DIETARY_SUPPLEMENT

High-Carbohydrate Beverage

Participants consumed three daily maltodextrin-containing beverages in addition to a standardized food-based diet providing 4 grams of carbohydrate per kilogram of body mass per day. The beverages provided an additional 3 grams of carbohydrate per kilogram of body mass per day, resulting in a total target intake of 7 grams of carbohydrate per kilogram of body mass per day.

DIETARY_SUPPLEMENT

placebo beverage

Participants consumed three daily placebo beverages without added carbohydrate in addition to the same standardized food-based diet providing 4 grams of carbohydrate per kilogram of body mass per day. The total target intake was 4 grams of carbohydrate per kilogram of body mass per day.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Göteborg University

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Stefan Pettersson, PhD, Associate Professor · Department of Food and Nutrition, and Sport Science, Göteborgs universitet, Gothenburg, Sweden

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

OTHER

Masking

SINGLE

Model

CROSSOVER

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

MALE

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2026-04-01

Primary Completion

2026-05-01

Completion

2026-05-01

Countries

• Sweden

Study Locations