2025, Vol. 12, Issue 6, Part K

The purpose of the present study was to develop a discriminant model based on selected anthropometric and physical fitness variables to differentiate high- and low-performing football defenders. Sixty male football defenders (aged 18–25 years) were purposively selected and classified into high-performing (n = 30) and low-performing (n = 30) groups based on competitive match performance ratings. Anthropometric variables included height and body fat percentage, while physical fitness variables comprised agility and explosive leg power. Descriptive statistics and discriminant function analysis were employed to examine group differences and classification accuracy.

The results indicated that high-performing defenders demonstrated greater height (M = 178.42 cm), lower body fat percentage (M = 10.84%), faster agility performance (M = 15.12 s), and superior vertical jump performance (M = 55.47 cm) compared to low-performing defenders. Standardized canonical discriminant function coefficients revealed that vertical jump (0.76) and agility (-0.71) were the strongest discriminators, followed by body fat percentage (-0.58) and height (0.42). The discriminant function correctly classified 86.7% of the original grouped cases, with classification accuracies of 90.0% for high-performing defenders and 83.3% for low-performing defenders.

The findings demonstrate that physical fitness variables exert a greater influence on defensive performance classification than anthropometric characteristics. The study supports the application of integrated anthropometric and physical fitness profiling for talent identification, player selection, and performance optimization in football defenders.