Previous research indicates that appropriate emotional responses might be beneficial in termsof improving physical ability, improving the quality of team interaction, reducing the risk oflosing self-control, reducing the risk of injury and improving interpersonal and organizationaldynamics. Furthermore, it is proposed that the effectiveness of emotion regulation (ER)strategies is a bearing factor regarding sport performance. The purpose of present study wasto examine whether differences exist between national and regional players in terms of howfrequent they regulate emotion and how effective they perceive themselves as. Youth national(n = 45) and regional (n = 76) footballers completed a questionnaire pack measuring their useof ER strategies and their perceived effectiveness. Results indicated differences between thetwo groups within their ER frequency and perceived effectiveness. Results were discussed inrelation to previous research. Practical implications and direction for future research weregiven.

The present PhD thesis is compilation of various investigations for the development of a physiological profile in women’s soccer. After an extensive literature review, several literature gaps in this area were identified including: physiological demands of a women’s soccer match including simultaneous measurements with portable metabolic equipment and GPS technology; physical performance analysis of women’s soccer competitive matches of different competition levels using GPS technology; and fitness testing and fitness profiles of female soccer players of different competitive levels by means of laboratory and field tests. The investigations that are part of this thesis targeted these gaps and provided for the first time novel and objective findings in these subjects. The popularity of women’s soccer as well as the number of female soccer players worldwide has increased exponentially in the last 30 years. Furthermore, there are now multiple women’s soccer international competitions and professional leagues around the globe and they will continue to increase in the next few years. Therefore, there is currently high demand for scientific research specific to the women’s game in these topics which may aid coaches, physical trainers, and other practitioners to develop more effective fitness assessments and training programs for their female players in order to improve their fitness status and overall match performance according to their competitive level and positional role.:DEDICATION iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS iv BIBLIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION vi ABSTRACT vii LIST OF PUBLICATIONS viii TABLE OF CONTENTS ix LIST OF TABLES xi LIST OF FIGURES xii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS xiii 1 INTRODUCTION 1 1.1. WOMEN’S SOCCER BACKGROUND 1 1.2. PHYSICAL AND PHYSIOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF FEMALE SOCCER PLAYERS 3 1.3. PHYSICAL AND PHYSIOLOGICAL DEMANDS OF WOMEN’S SOCCER 4 2 DISSERTATION AIMS 6 3 STATE OF THE ART 8 3.1. PORTABLE METABOLIC, HEART RATE AND BLOOD LACTATE MEASUREMENTS 8 3.2. GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM (GPS) MEASUREMENTS 9 3.3. TEST PROTOCOLS 10 3.3.1. ANTHROPOMETRY ASSESSMENT 10 3.3.2. AEROBIC CAPACITY TESTS 11 3.3.3. SPEED, ANAEROBIC ABILITY AND EXPLOSIVE POWER TESTS 15 4 OWN AREAS OF RESEARCH 18 4.1. PHYSIOLOGICAL DEMANDS OF A WOMEN’S FOOTBALL MATCH (ENGLISH SUMMARY FROM “PHYSIOLOGISCHE BEANSPRUCHUNG EINES FRAUENFUẞBALLSPIELS)” – (P-I) 18 4.2. GPS PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS OF WOMEN’S SOCCER COMPETITIVE MATCHES OF THE SECOND AND FOURTH GERMAN LEAGUES – (P-IV) 21 4.3. VALIDITY OF THE YO-YO INTERMITTENT RECOVERY TEST LEVEL 1 FOR DIRECT MEASUREMENT OR INDIRECT ESTIMATION OF MAXIMAL OXYGEN UPTAKE AMONG FEMALE SOCCER PLAYERS – (P-II) 25 4.4. FITNESS PROFILES OF GERMAN FEMALE SOCCER PLAYERS (UNPUBLISHED RESULTS) 26 5 CONCLUSIONS AND OUTLOOK 31 5.1. MAIN FINDINGS 31 5.2. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS 33 5.3. STRENGTHS AND LIMITATIONS 33 5.4. FUTURE DIRECTIONS 34 6 REFERENCES 36 EIGENSTÄNDIGKEITSERKLÄRUNG 39 AUTHOR’S RESUME 40 ORIGINAL PUBLICATIONS 42 PUBLICATION 1 (P-I) 43 PUBLICATION 2 (P-II) 50 PUBLICATION 3 (P-III) 58 PUBLICATION 4 (P-IV) 74

Under de senaste åren har psykisk ohälsa fått ökad uppmärksamhet i samhället, men också inom elitidrottens värld. I svensk media pågår det en växande trend av att fler elitfotbollsspelare offentligt talar ut om sin psykiska ohälsa. Detta trots att elitfotbollen är stigmatiserat från ämnet och elitfotbollsspelare har haft svårt att söka hjälp för sin psykiska ohälsa. Till anledning av det finns det ett ökat behov av att undersöka hur miljön ser ut hos elitföreningar, samt vilka stödinsatser elitföreningar arbetar med för att främja den psykiska hälsan hos elitfotbollsspelare. Studien har baserats på en kvalitativ metod till de sex intervjuer som genomfördes med elitfotbollsspelare som tidigare offentligt har berättat om sin psykiska ohälsa. Via våra intervjuer har vi fått ta del av elitfotbollsspelares upplevelser och erfarenheter kring elitföreningarnas arbete gällande detta område. Med hjälp av teoretiska perspektiv har vi bundit detta till det resultat vi kom fram till. / In recent years, mental illness has received increased attention in society, but also in the world of elite sports. In the Swedish media, there is a growing trend of more elite football players publicly speaking out about their mental illness. This is despite the fact that elite football is stigmatized from the subject and elite football players have had difficulty seeking help for their mental illness. Due to this, there is an increased need to investigate what the environment looks like at elite clubs, and especially what kind of support elite clubs work with to promote the mental health of elite footballers. This study has been based on a qualitative method for the six interviews that were conducted with elite football players who have previously publicly told about their mental illness in the media. Through our interviews, we have been able to take part of the experiences of elite footballers regarding the elite clubs' work in this area. With help from theoretical perspectives, we have tied the theories to the result of our study.