Multi-Ingredient Supplementation in Professional Football Players (TCP-Soccer)

Dose-Dependent Effects of Multi-Ingredient Supplementation on Physical Performance, Recovery, and Cognitive Function in Professional Football Players

This randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial will investigate the effects of multi-ingredient supplementation containing taurine, caffeine, and phosphatidylserine on physical performance, cognitive function, cognitive fatigue responses, recovery, sleep quality, and autonomic nervous system activity in elite male soccer players. Participants will complete a 14-day supplementation protocol and undergo football-specific performance, reaction-time, cognitive-fatigue, recovery, and sleep-related assessments before and after the intervention. The study aims to determine whether phosphatidylserine dose influences physical, cognitive, fatigue-related, and recovery-related outcomes when combined with taurine and caffeine.

Study Overview

• Status: Not yet recruiting
• Conditions: Fatigue; Recovery; Football Players; Sports Performance; Cognitive Performance During Physical Activity
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Placebo; Dietary supplement: taurine; Dietary supplement: Caffeine; Dietary supplement: Phosphatidylserine

Detailed Description

The planned study will be a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial designed as a continuation and extension of previous research on multi-ingredient supplementation in professional football players. The primary aim will be to investigate the dose-dependent effects of phosphatidylserine combined with taurine and caffeine under standardized football-specific training conditions and acute cognitive-fatigue conditions.

Approximately 80 professional male football players competing at national level will be randomly assigned to four groups: placebo, taurine + caffeine, taurine + caffeine + phosphatidylserine 300 mg, and taurine + caffeine + phosphatidylserine 600 mg. Importantly, caffeine and taurine doses will remain identical across all active supplementation groups in order to enable a more precise evaluation of the independent effects of phosphatidylserine.

Participants will complete a 14-day supplementation protocol and undergo baseline and post-intervention assessments including 30 m sprint performance, reaction time, cognitive-fatigue responses, football-specific GPS monitoring, fatigue-related performance decline, recovery-related variables, sleep monitoring, and autonomic nervous system activity assessment.

The study is expected to provide novel insights into the role of phosphatidylserine in football-specific performance, cognitive fatigue resistance, recovery, and neurophysiological responses in elite football players.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 100
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Krzysztof Maciej Mizera, PhD; Phone Number: +48508356718; Email: krzysztofmizera@o2.pl

Study Locations

• Hungary
  • Budapest, Hungary
    • Professional Football Training Center
    • Contact: Krzysztof Mizera, PhD; Phone Number: +48508356718; Email: krzysztofmizera@o2.pl
• Poland
  • Lodz, Poland
    • Professional Football Training Center
    • Contact: Krzysztof Mizera, PhD; Phone Number: +48508356718; Email: krzysztofmizera@o2.pl
  • Warsaw, Poland
    • Professional Football Training Center
    • Contact: Krzysztof Mizera, PhD; Phone Number: +48508356718; Email: krzysztofmizera@o2.pl
  • Wroclaw, Poland
    • Professional Football Training Center
    • Contact: Krzysztof Mizera, PhD; Phone Number: +48508356718; Email: krzysztofmizera@o2.pl
• Spain
  • Alicante, Spain
    • Professional Football Training Center
    • Contact: Krzysztof Mizera, PhD; Phone Number: +48508356718; Email: krzysztofmizera@o2.pl

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

-

Inclusion Criteria:

• Professional male football players aged 18-35 years
• Regular participation in team training and competitive matches
• Clinically healthy status confirmed prior to participation
• Written informed consent provided

Exclusion Criteria:

• Current musculoskeletal injury or illness
• Chronic metabolic, cardiovascular, or neurological disease
• Regular medication use
• Current use of dietary supplements or ergogenic aids
• Smoking or excessive alcohol consumption
• Known hypersensitivity to any study supplement ingredient

Exclusion Criteria:

-

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Other
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Triple

Number of Arms

4

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Placebo Comparator: P; Participants will receive visually identical placebo capsules for 14 days.	Other: Placebo; Placebo capsules administered daily during the 14-day intervention period
Experimental: TC; Participants will receive taurine (1500 mg/day) and caffeine (200 mg/day) supplementation for 14 days.	Dietary supplement: taurine; Taurine supplementation administered daily during the 14-day intervention period.; Dietary supplement: Caffeine; Caffeine supplementation administered daily during the 14-day intervention period.
Experimental: TCP-300; Participants will receive taurine (1500 mg/day), caffeine (200 mg/day), and phosphatidylserine (300 mg/day) supplementation for 14 days.	Dietary supplement: taurine; Taurine supplementation administered daily during the 14-day intervention period.; Dietary supplement: Caffeine; Caffeine supplementation administered daily during the 14-day intervention period.; Dietary supplement: Phosphatidylserine; Phosphatidylserine supplementation administered daily during the 14-day intervention period.
Experimental: TCP-600; Participants will receive taurine (1500 mg/day), caffeine (200 mg/day), and phosphatidylserine (600 mg/day) supplementation for 14 days.	Dietary supplement: taurine; Taurine supplementation administered daily during the 14-day intervention period.; Dietary supplement: Caffeine; Caffeine supplementation administered daily during the 14-day intervention period.; Dietary supplement: Phosphatidylserine; Phosphatidylserine supplementation administered daily during the 14-day intervention period.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
30 m sprint time	Time required to complete a 30 m sprint, measured using electronic timing gates. The best result from three maximal sprint trials will be used for analysis. Unit of Measure: seconds	Baseline and after 14 days of supplementation

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Visual reaction time	Mean response time to a visual stimulus, measured using a validated visual reaction time test.	Baseline and after 14 days of supplementation
Auditory reaction time	Mean response time to an auditory stimulus, measured using a computerized auditory reaction time test.	Baseline and after 14 days of supplementation
Total distance covered	Total distance covered during the standardized football-specific training session, measured using a 10-Hz GPS tracking system. Unit of Measure: meters	After 14 days of supplementation, during the standardized football-specific training session
Relative distance	Distance covered per minute during the standardized football-specific training session, measured using a 10-Hz GPS tracking system. Unit of Measure: meters per minute	After 14 days of supplementation, during the standardized football-specific training session
High-speed running distance	Description: Distance covered at running speeds above 19.8 km/h during the standardized football-specific training session, measured using a 10-Hz GPS tracking system. Unit of Measure: meters	After 14 days of supplementation, during the standardized football-specific training session
Number of sprints	Total number of sprint efforts performed during the standardized football-specific training session. Sprinting will be defined as running speed above 25.0 km/h and measured using a 10-Hz GPS tracking system. Unit of Measure: number of sprints	After 14 days of supplementation, during the standardized football-specific training session
Player Load	External training load during the standardized football-specific training session, measured using triaxial accelerometry integrated with the GPS tracking system. Unit of Measure: arbitrary units	After 14 days of supplementation, during the standardized football-specific training session
Heart rate variability RMSSD	Resting heart rate variability assessed in the morning using the root mean square of successive differences between normal heartbeats. HRV will be measured using a heart rate sensor or wearable device under standardized resting conditions. Unit of Measure: milliseconds	Daily during the 14-day supplementation period
Sleep duration	Total sleep duration assessed using wearable sleep monitoring. Unit of Measure: hours	Daily during the 14-day supplementation period
Sleep efficiency	Percentage of time in bed spent asleep, assessed using wearable sleep monitoring. Unit of Measure: percent	Daily during the 14-day supplementation period
Subjective fatigue	Subjective fatigue assessed using the fatigue item of the Hooper Index questionnaire on a 1-7 scale, where higher values indicate greater fatigue. Unit of Measure: score on a scale	Daily during the 14-day supplementation period
Muscle soreness	Perceived lower-limb muscle soreness assessed using a 0-10 delayed onset muscle soreness scale, where higher values indicate greater soreness. Unit of Measure: score on a scale	Daily during the 14-day supplementation period
Stroop task reaction time	Mean response time during a modified computerized Stroop task assessing cognitive fatigue, inhibitory control, sustained attention, and information processing speed. Unit of Measure: seconds	Baseline and after 14 days of supplementation
Stroop task accuracy	Percentage of correct responses during a modified computerized Stroop task. Unit of Measure: percent	Baseline and after 14 days of supplementation
Stroop task error rate	Number of incorrect responses during a modified computerized Stroop task. Unit of Measure: number of errors	Baseline and after 14 days of supplementation
Perceived mental fatigue	Subjective perceived mental fatigue assessed using a 0-10 visual analogue scale, where higher values indicate greater perceived mental fatigue. Unit of Measure: score on a 0-10 scale	Baseline and after 14 days of supplementation
Change in sprint count between first and second half	Percentage decline in the number of sprints between the first and second half of the standardized football-specific training session. Sprint change will be calculated as: [(second half value - first half value) / first half value] × 100. Unit of Measure: percent	After 14 days of supplementation, during the standardized football-specific training session

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Vizja University in Warsaw
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Krzysztof Maciej MIZERA, PhD, 1. Vizja University in Warsaw, Faculty of Medical Sciences and Health Sciences, 01-143 Warsaw, Poland

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Estimated): June 12, 2026
• Primary Completion (Estimated): June 28, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): June 28, 2026

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: May 13, 2026
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 17, 2026
• First Posted (Actual): May 22, 2026

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): June 9, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 6, 2026
• Last Verified: June 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Recovery; Soccer; Supplementation; Football; Exercise Performance
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms; Signs and Symptoms; Fatigue; Sulfur Compounds; Organic Chemicals; Heterocyclic Compounds; Heterocyclic Compounds, 2-Ring; Heterocyclic Compounds, Fused-Ring; Lipids; Hydrocarbons, Acyclic; Hydrocarbons; Alkaloids; Purinones; Purines; Alkanes; Alkanesulfonic Acids; Sulfonic Acids; Sulfur Acids; Membrane Lipids; Xanthines; Glycerophospholipids; Phosphatidic Acids; Glycerophosphates; Phospholipids; Caffeine; Taurine; Phosphatidylserines
• Other Study ID Numbers: MIZERA-FOOTBALL-2026

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: UNDECIDED
• IPD Plan Description: Data sharing plans have not yet been finalized.

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No