association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

, work rate refers to the extent to which a

player Player may refer to: Role or adjective * Player (game), a participant in a game or sport ** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games ** Athlete, a player in sports ** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who ...

contributes to running and chasing in a

match A match is a tool for starting a fire. Typically, matches are made of small wooden sticks or stiff paper. One end is coated with a material that can be ignited by friction generated by striking the match against a suitable surface. Wooden matc ...

while not in possession of the ball. Work rate is generally indicated by the distance covered by a player during a match. An example of a player with a high work rate is Xavi, a former midfielder for

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

and

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. During the final of the 2010–11 UEFA Champions League, Xavi ran almost 12 km, more than any other player in the game. The same is true of the final of the

2010 FIFA World Cup , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

, when he covered a distance of 14.98 km (including extra time). A high work rate is valued because players with this characteristic will be able to play a more active role in defending and attacking throughout a match. Conversely, players are sometimes criticized for low work rate; for instance,

ESPN Soccernet ESPN FC (formerly ESPN SoccerNet) is a website and a U.S. television studio program covering soccer that is broadcast daily over the streaming service ESPN+. ESPN FC's origin was a website owned by ESPN Inc. Originally established in 1995 as Soc ...

correspondent Sam Limbert highlighted a poor work rate as one of the weaker qualities of Arsenal midfielder

Denílson Pereira Neves Denílson is a Portuguese given name. Among people with this name are: Football *Denílson (footballer, born 1943), Denílson Custódio Machado, attacking midfielder *Denilson (footballer, born 1972), Denilson Antonio Paludo, midfielder *Denílson ...

. However, some experts, such as former

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

and

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...

youth coach Carlos de Lorenzi, warn against the danger of equating high work rate with high talent. De Lorenzi had responsibility for the early development of such players as Brazilian star Kaká.

References

{{Reflist Association football terminology Association football tactics Rates