Beep Test Standards by Sport
What beep test levels athletes reach in soccer, rugby, and basketball — and how aerobic fitness maps to each sport.
Practice with the Free Beep Test App →Why Team Sports Use the Beep Test
Soccer, rugby, basketball, and most field and court sports demand the ability to run hard, recover, and run hard again for an entire game. The beep test (the 20-meter multi-stage fitness test) measures the aerobic engine that makes that possible, which is why coaches around the world use it for pre-season testing and squad benchmarking.
The more continuous running a position involves, the higher the score tends to be — soccer midfielders and rugby backs sit at the top, while positions built around short, powerful efforts (rugby forwards, basketball centers) usually score a little lower. Many elite programs now use the Yo-Yo Intermittent Recovery test instead, which adds short rests, so beep test figures are best treated as a general aerobic benchmark rather than a single pass mark.
Typical Beep Test Levels by Sport
| Sport | Typical range | Elite |
|---|---|---|
| Soccer / football | 9–11 (published studies) | Not published |
| Rugby (union) | 10–13 | 14+ |
| Basketball | 10–12 | 13+ |
Soccer: the two figures that trace back to published studies are Level 9 and Level 11.2. A 2013 study of 39 female college players recorded an average top speed of 12.5 km/h, which is the speed of Level 9, and a 2010 study of 19 semi-professional men averaged Level 11.2. Nobody has published beep test results split by position, so the midfielder-versus-defender breakdowns you find online have no study behind them. The soccer page has both studies in full →
Rugby union: Backs average around Level 11–13, while forwards — built for contact and short bursts — typically land near Level 9–11.
Basketball: Elite players usually score Level 10–12, with guards outrunning centers because of the greater distance they cover in transition.
The soccer row is sourced (see below). The rugby and basketball figures are the numbers that circulate among coaches; we have not found a study behind either, so treat them as rough orientation rather than benchmarks. Results also move with the surface, the shoes, and how strictly the two-miss rule is applied.
What Each Level Means for Athletes
This ladder is coaching shorthand, not measurement. No study assigns levels to competition tiers this way, and where published figures do exist they sit lower than the labels suggest: the one study of semi-professional soccer players averaged Level 11.2, not 12–13. Use it to get your bearings, then compare against your own squad.
- Level 7–9Recreational / amateur
- Level 10–11Serious club / college reserve
- Level 12–13Semi-pro / college starter
- Level 13–14Professional average
- Level 15+Elite endurance athlete
Training to Raise Your Sport Score
To move up the table, target your sport's specific running demands while building a deep aerobic base. At Level 12–14 pace (14.0–15.0 km/h), each shuttle is a near-maximal effort, so the most direct tool is VO₂ max interval training: 4–6 minute efforts at 95–100% of maximum heart rate with equal recovery, repeated 4–6 times per session. A typical pre-season block includes:
- 3–4 aerobic sessions per week — one easy long run, one tempo run, and one interval session
- VO₂ max intervals (e.g., 6 × 800m) building through the pre-season
- Sport-specific repeated-sprint work to mirror match demands
- Beep test practice runs in the final 3–4 weeks to sharpen pacing and turns
Sources
- Crossvalidation of two 20-m shuttle-run tests for predicting VO₂ max in female collegiate soccer players (2013), Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research: 39 players, 12.5 ± 0.6 km/h on the shuttle test.
- Relationship between the 20-m multistage shuttle run test and 2 soccer-specific field tests (2010), Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research: 19 semi-professional men averaged 11.2 ± 0.9 levels.
- Level speeds are read from the 20-level schedule this site's app and audio run, published in Léger, Mercier, Gadoury & Lambert (1988), The multistage 20 metre shuttle run test for aerobic fitness, Journal of Sports Sciences.