Playing soccer in low levels of air pollution can affect your body

After reviewing nearly 3,000 soccer matches in the country between 1999 and 2011, the researchers found that air pollution significantly affects the performance of professional soccer players.

While soccer may not seem like a short-run activity, what the authors mean by this is that soccer games present a great atmosphere in which to measure and compare the impact of air pollution levels on the intense exertions of individuals in a way that is otherwise not readily available through consistent, reliable data.

They determined that when ambient air pollution exceeded the European Union regulation threshold for particulate pollution of 50 micrograms per cubic meter which happened in 7% of the matches player performance declined by as much as 16%.

When it comes to adapting to the conditions, as soccer players are forced to do for matches taking place in the cold, rain, snow, or otherwise undesirable weather, they found that players tend to “marginally adjust” by making slightly more long passes rather than short passes.

High concentrations of particulate matter negatively affects the short-run productivity of professional soccer players to a considerable extent, confirming and extending empirical evidence on negative productivity effects of air pollution for low-skilled workers.