The aim of this study was to compare the effects of intermittent cold-water immersion and massage on perceptual and performance markers of recovery by basketball players after competitive matches. Eight men (age 23 +/- 3 years; stature 190.5 +/- 8.9 cm; body mass 90.3 +/- 9.6 kg; body fat 12.8 +/- 4.8%) and eight women (age 22 +/- 2 years; stature 179.0 +/- 8.5 cm; body mass 77.6 +/- 9.2 kg; body fat 22.5 +/- 6.6%) basketball players participated. Massage, cold-water immersion or control were applied immediately after competitive matches, followed by assessments of perceptual measures of recovery and physical performance, countermovement jump and repeated-sprint ability 24 h after intervention. There was lower perception of fatigue overall and in the legs immediately after the massage and cold-water immersion condition (p < 0.001; eta2p = 0.91). Furthermore, women had a lower perception of fatigue in cold-water immersion than massage at any testing time (p < 0.001; eta2p = 0.37). Jump performance was greater after cold-water immersion than the control condition (p = 0.037, eta2p = 0.37). There was no effect of any of the recovery interventions on repeated-sprint measures (p at best 0.067, eta2p at best 0.68). The results suggest that both massage and cold-water immersion improve perceptual measures of recovery. Furthermore, cold-water immersion improves jump performance although neither such immersion nor massage had an effect on repeated-sprint ability. This suggests that, overall, cold-water immersion is more useful than massage in the recovery from basketball matches, especially in women.

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