In a La Liga study of 51 male players after complete ACL rupture, career level fell across three post-return seasons. In the 34-player running-data subgroup, top match speed was below pre-injury in years one and two; over-25s stayed lower in year three.

Manchón-Davó, Miralles-Iborra and colleagues’ La Liga study tracked career level in 51 professional male La Liga players with complete ACL rupture across the season before injury, the injury season, and the first three seasons after return-to-play. It analysed match running performance in the 34 players who remained in La Liga through the follow-up period. In that running-data subgroup, maximum running speed was lower in POST1 and POST2 compared with the pre-injury season. The public article page gives that season-by-season result; the readable HTML omits the full tables for total distance, high-speed running, sprint distance and sprint count.