TOPLINE

Fourteen weeks of soccer training did not change lean body mass compared with usual care in adults with type 2 diabetes, but a measure of cardiorespiratory fitness – peak oxygen uptake (VO2peak) – did improve with the workout sessions.

METHODOLOGY

• Researchers conducted a 14-week randomized controlled trial in the Faroe Islands that enrolled 111 adults aged 40-70 years with type 2 diabetes who were not using insulin.
• Participants were randomly assigned 60:40, stratified by sex, age (≥ 55 vs < 55 years), and use of a glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist (GLP-1RA), to an exercise group (n = 66) or a usual-care control group (n = 45); 36% of participants used a GLP-1RA at baseline.
• The exercise group took part in three 60-min soccer sessions per week. Participants played four 12-min games of 3v3 to 5v5 after a warm-up. After 4 weeks of walking-only games, running was permitted. 
• The primary outcome was change in lean body mass measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA); secondary outcomes included fat mass, VO2peak, distance on the Yo-Yo Intermittent Endurance Level 1 test, lipids, and glycemic markers.

TAKEAWAY

• No significant between-group difference in change was detected for lean body mass, fat mass, or body fat percentage.
• Relative to usual care, soccer training improved absolute VO2peak by 237 mL/min (95% CI, 143 to 331; P < .001), with an increase of 134 mL/min in the intervention group and a decrease of 103 mL/min among controls.
• Performance on the endurance test improved more among participants who played soccer. Their distance on the test increased by 140 m, compared with an 18-m improvement in the control group.
• Measures of blood pressure, lipids, resting heart rate, and hemoglobin A1c did not differ between groups, and exploratory analyses found no clear modification of effects by GLP-1RA use. Exploratory analyses found some metabolic markers differed between the groups, including lower C-peptide and HOMA2-IR in the exercise group.

IN PRACTICE

“Regular exercise consistently improves cardiorespiratory capacity in [type 2 diabetes], and our exploratory fitness findings are consistent with that evidence,” the authors of the the study wrote. “Small-sided soccer integrates continuous aerobic work with high-intensity and resistance-like actions, a combination that often matches or exceeds conventional endurance programs.”

SOURCE

Researchers with the University of the Faroe Islands conducted the study, which was published online on November 5, 2026, in Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports.

LIMITATIONS

Fifteen participants had no follow-up data. Attendance was modest, and diet and outside activity were not monitored. Participants' use of medications, their relatively well-controlled risk factors at baseline, and the limited duration of the intervention may have limited the ability to detect changes with this trial, the researchers noted.

DISCLOSURES

The Research Council Faroe Islands and Betri Stuðul supported the research. The authors reported no conflicts of interest.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.