How Many Calories Are Burned During Soccer?

Jun 14, 2011 | By Rogue Parrish

Soccer players typically run 5 miles or more during the course of a match, including sprinting, jogging, strolling and jumping. Given the physical demands of the game, naturally the calorie burn is substantial.

Features

A 90-minute soccer game will burn 630 calories if you weigh 125 lbs., 780 calories if you weigh 155 lbs. and 933 calories if you weigh 185 lbs., Harvard Health Publications estimates. This calorie burn puts soccer ahead of pursuits such as skiing and wrestling and comparable to tennis and casual racquetball but behind mountain biking and vigorous swimming or bicycling.

Time Frame

While other sports may have higher per-minute demands on stored calories, given that soccer requires steady effort for 90 minutes, a full-length soccer game adds up to a significant calorie expenditure. Soccer's changes of direction and backward running add to the burn and can increase energy expenditure by up to 40 percent compared with continuous running, notes Virginia Tech exercise science professor Jay H. Williams. Top youth players can burn 700 to 1,000 calories per match, he notes based on a survey of academic literature.

Considerations

Nancy Clark, a sports nutritionist, and Gloria Averbuch, marketing director for the Sky Blue pro women's team, stress in their book "Food Guide for Soccer: Tips and Recipes from the Pros" the need especially for youth players in weekend tournaments to intake sufficient calories. Think of yourself as an endurance athlete, they advise, with a banana in one hand and a sandwich in the other, just like a marathoner.