<![CDATA[Position-specific physiological profiling is crucial for optimizing youth athletic development, yet data regarding school-based extracurricular sports programs remains limited. This study aimed to investigate positional differences in aerobic capacity (VO2max) between defensive and attacking youth footballers within a school-based sports framework. A comparative cross-sectional design was conducted with 23 male high school football players (n=11 defenders, n=12 attackers; age: 16–18 years) selected via purposive sampling from a public senior high school in Makassar, Indonesia. Aerobic capacity was estimated using the Multistage Fitness Test (MFT) to calculate VO2max (mL⋅kg ^(-1)⋅min^(-1)). Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Independent Samples t-test (α=0.05), and Cohen's d to measure effect size. The overall cohort demonstrated a "Very Good" aerobic fitness profile ("mean VO2max=56.15±[SD] mL⋅kg^(-1)⋅min^(-1)). Although attacking players exhibited a slightly higher mean value (56.87 mL⋅kg^(-1)⋅min^(-1)) compared to defensive players (55.37 mL⋅kg^(-1)⋅min^(-1)), this difference was not statistically significant (t=-1.76, p=0.093). No significant positional divergence in VO2max was observed, indicating that current school-based physical conditioning produces a baseline aerobic standard across playing roles. These findings align with the dynamic, position-fluid physical demands of modern tactical play and suggest that early-stage school programs should prioritize general aerobic foundations over premature position-specific conditioning.]]>
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