HAEMATOLOGICAL AND IRON STATUS FOLLOWING A SOCCER MATCH

: The aim of the present investigation was to verify the responses of haematological and iron concentrations in Croatian U-21 soccer players following an official soccer match. A group of 19 trained, healthy male soccer players from the U-21 category of the Croatian soccer association took part in this study. An analysis of red blood cell concentration (RBC), haemoglobin (Hb), haematocrit (Htc), mean corpuscular volume (MCV), mean cell haemoglobin (MCH), mean cell haemoglobin corpuscular (MCHC), and Thrombocytes was performed to indicate the haematological status. In addition, iron, total iron binding capacity (TIBC), the unsaturated iron-binding capacity (UIBC) and ferritin analyses were obtained immediately after the soccer match. A significant decrease in Hct (%) was observed immediately after the game. However, there were no significant changes in the haemoglobin levels. Iron concentration increased significantly (p< 0.01) after the soccer match. Ferritin levels were also higher at the end of the match compared to baseline measures. It can be reported that a soccer match may induce an iron increase immediately after the game which was contradictory to recent studies. In summary, this study provided a valuable opportunity to study biochemical parameters that could lead to a possible illness, injuries and severity in match-play