Data and materials for: The Physical–Cognitive Interface in Team-Sport Match Officials.

Background. Team-sport match officials must judge fast, ambiguous events while sustaining substantial physical exertion. Whether that exertion degrades decision-making remains contested. This review aimed to determine whether, and under what conditions, physical load and fatigue affect decision-making, and whether contradictory findings can be explained by properties of the designs used to test the relationship. Methods. Five databases were searched to 5 August 2026 following PRISMA 2020. Eligible reports linked physical load, exertion, physical fatigue, or officiating-related mental fatigue to decision accuracy, error rate, reaction time, or executive function in central or field officials of team sports. Two reviewers screened independently (κ = 0.86), risk of bias was appraised with design-specific tools, and extracted values were verified against the primary reports. Results. Twenty-two studies reported in 24 records (2005–2025, six sports) met the criteria; none reached the lowest risk-of-bias tier of its design-specific tool. Most studies found no association between physical load and decision accuracy at the temporal resolution and intensity range sampled, with fourteen studies contributing to this pattern. However, temporal resolution distinguished the studies that did detect poorer officiating decisions: two studies reported impairment when load was integrated across the 5–10 s preceding a decision, while one small instantaneous study reported more offside errors during running or sprinting. At resolutions of ≥30 s, associations were largely absent; the only exception was an attenuated external-load association at 60 s, whereas internal-load associations disappeared. Thirteen of 30 study–resolution entries used multi-minute windows. Second, five samples spent almost all decision moments below the intensity range in which impairment had been detected, limiting the informativeness of their null findings. Coarse aggregation could also produce misleading fatigue interpretations: in three samples accuracy fell as concurrent physical load fell. Positioning was the most consistently replicated correlate of accuracy (four studies, three sports), and fitness was associated with accuracy in one study. Conclusions. Average officiating load does not appear to reduce decision quality. Instead, the evidence suggests that acute load in the immediate peri-decisional period, particularly toward the upper end of the sampled intensity distribution, may transiently increase error likelihood. Future studies should use rolling peri-decisional windows, deliberately sample high-intensity decision moments, and include female and non-soccer officials.