Xu Wangyang, Zhang Diyan, Zhang Xinbi
School of Athletic Performance, Shanghai University of Sport, Shanghai, China.
Physical Education Institute, Henan Normal University, Xinxiang, China.
PeerJ. 2025 Aug 27;13:e19976. doi: 10.7717/peerj.19976. eCollection 2025.
Despite some reviews examining sex differences in football within specific themes, a comprehensive, integrated overview of sex differences in football is lacking. This scoping review aimed to: (1) synthesize existing evidence regarding sex differences in elite football players; (2) identify research gaps to provide direction for future studies.
The protocol adhered to the PRISMA Extension for Scoping Reviews guidelines. The searches were conducted on October 17, 2024, in Scopus, PubMed, ScienceDirect, and Web of Science (Core Collection). The risk of bias was assessed using the Revised Risk of Bias Assessment Tool for Nonrandomized Studies of Interventions (RoBANS 2). A narrative synthesis was performed to summarize the main findings.
A total of 80 studies met the eligibility criteria and were included in the review, encompassing 4,896 players (2,226 female, 2,670 male) and 234 matches (99 female, 135 male). Seventy-two studies (90%) did not report female participants' menstrual cycles or contraceptive medication use. Only six studies exclusively used "sex"-related terminology, with not a single study using "gender"-related terminology alone. Seventy-four studies (93%) presented various degrees of mixed usage of the terms "sex" and "gender". All included studies were categorized into eight themes according to their research focus: Anthropometrics, Muscle and Joint Movements, Physiological Response, Physical Performance, Technical Performance, Match Performance, Psychological and Behavioral Performance, and Nutrition/Recovery/Sleep.
Perhaps due to a combination of innate biological factors and acquired dietary habits, female players, who typically have a higher body fat percentage and lower lean body mass, exhibit performance gaps compared to male players in terms of speed, strength, and endurance. These differences further affect their technical skills and match performance. However, while these absolute differences exist, they often diminish or even disappear when data are standardized against certain anthropometric or physiological metrics. This underscores the importance of developing individualized analytical methods and evaluation criteria tailored to female players. Future studies should carefully define sex-specific inclusion/exclusion criteria and select appropriate sex and gender terminology to minimize bias and enhance study quality.
尽管有一些综述在特定主题下研究了足球运动中的性别差异，但仍缺乏对足球运动中性别差异的全面、综合概述。本范围综述旨在：（1）综合关于精英足球运动员性别差异的现有证据；（2）确定研究空白，为未来研究提供方向。
该方案遵循PRISMA扩展的范围综述指南。于2024年10月17日在Scopus、PubMed、ScienceDirect和科学网（核心合集）上进行检索。使用修订后的非随机干预研究偏倚风险评估工具（RoBANS 2）评估偏倚风险。进行叙述性综合以总结主要发现。
共有80项研究符合纳入标准并被纳入综述，涉及4896名球员（2226名女性，2670名男性）和234场比赛（99场女性比赛，135场男性比赛）。72项研究（90%）未报告女性参与者的月经周期或避孕药物使用情况。只有6项研究专门使用与“性别”相关的术语，没有一项研究单独使用与“社会性别”相关的术语。74项研究（93%）呈现了“性别”和“社会性别”术语的不同程度混合使用。所有纳入研究根据其研究重点分为八个主题：人体测量学、肌肉和关节运动、生理反应、身体表现、技术表现、比赛表现、心理和行为表现以及营养/恢复/睡眠。
也许由于先天生物学因素和后天饮食习惯的综合作用，女性球员通常体脂百分比更高、瘦体重更低，在速度、力量和耐力方面与男性球员相比存在表现差距。这些差异进一步影响她们的技术技能和比赛表现。然而，尽管存在这些绝对差异，但当数据根据某些人体测量或生理指标进行标准化时，这些差异往往会减小甚至消失。这凸显了开发针对女性球员的个性化分析方法和评估标准的重要性。未来的研究应仔细定义针对性别的纳入/排除标准，并选择合适的性别和社会性别术语，以尽量减少偏倚并提高研究质量。
