Introduction:
The advancements in technology in recent years have provided a large volume of data on the running performance (RP) of soccer players, thus enabling more research.

Aim of the study:
The aim of this study was to investigate whether there are differences in RP among different types of central midfielders (CMs) in formations with three CMs and a back four.

Material and methods:
Four different types of CMs are present in the abovementioned formations according to the InStat Scout data, namely a) attacking central midfielder (AMC), b) central midfielder (MC), c) single defensive central midfielder (sDMC), and d) defensive central midfielder paired with another DMC (pDMC). One-way ANOVA was applied four times to find differences among the different types of CMs in total distance covered (TD) as well as distances covered at low (LSD), moderate (MSD), and high intensity (HSD).

Results:
It was found that only in HSD there were statistically significant differences. Specifically, sDMCs showed lower values compared to MCs (p = 0.001, d = 0.533) and AMCs (p = 0.002, d = 0.574).

Conclusions:
The differences found among the various types of CMs can provide useful information for coaches’ choices regarding both team formation and player positions, depending on each player’s individual characteristics.