Analysis of goals scored by players with cerebral palsy in official football 7-a-side matches

The purpose of this study was to analyze goals scored in football 7-a-side matches by players with cerebral palsy (CP) in terms of when they occur in the game, what their characteristics are, what part of the body is used and from what part of the field shots have been taken. This study analysed 23 football matches corresponding to two Football 7-a-side Spanish Championships for players with CP held over two consecutive seasons. A total of 10 teams and 68 players participated in the study. The observation data sheet was made up according to three criteria (when goals were scored in terms of playing time, body part used to score, type of a goal and from where a shot has been taken) and 15 categories. Contrary to what occurs in conventional football, the results of this study show that in the football 7-a-side matches for players with CP a higher number of goals were scored in the first half (58.9%), especially in the first fifteen minutes (30.6%). The majority of goals were scored from inside the penalty area (61.3%). An average of 7.5 goals was scored per match. Most of the goals were scored when the ball was in play (94.9%) and only 5.1% were scored from kicking a stationary ball. It may be of interest to specifically train defensive aspects which can be applied during the first few minutes of the game in order to reduce the number of goals conceded at the beginning of matches