Abstract / Summary
This study retrospectively described the extent and type of travel experienced by female national team footballers and compared travel based on club locations. Details of 634 trips over a three-year period from 48 professional footballers in a women's national team were collated and confirmed via an online flight database. For each trip, travel variables included total travel and flight durations, number of time zones crossed, direction, number of overnights and arrival/departure times. Descriptive statistics reported team travel demands, whilst linear mixed models tested the relationship between club locations (Europe, North America, Australia) and travel variables. Post-hoc pairwise comparisons were conducted using estimated marginal means to assess differences between club locations (significance at p < 0.05). Travel demands frequently exceeded >10 h duration (66%) and >3 h time difference (77%), while 52% involved overnight travel. The nature of travel undertaken was broad, with trips ranging from 0.7–28.9 h travel time and 0.7–24.6 h flight time across four continents. Significant differences were observed by club location, as European-based players crossed more time zones than Australian-based players (p < 0.001) and travelled overnight more frequently than Australian- (p = 0.002) and North American-based (p = 0.020) players during return travel. European-based players completed more trips overall (Outbound: p < 0.001, Return: p = 0.002) and more eastward outbound trips than Australian-based players (p = 0.011). Travel for national team duties often requires extensive travel, which may induce jet lag and travel fatigue symptoms. Within this cohort, players based in Europe and North America faced the most demanding travel schedules, with increased exposure to long-haul flights, overnight travel, and time zone shifts.