Compensatory Training in Football: Handling the Substitutes
With the ultimate goal of maintaining (and potentially improving) performance during the competitive season, we constantly face complex challenges. The competition schedule largely affects our decision-making regarding the training process. Microcycles of different durations, long travels, congested fixtures, and players’ availability challenge our planning & programming abilities and make us constantly use the ‘smart improvisation’…
Small-Sided Games in Football: 7 things to consider
A football match is a very chaotic environment and coaches constantly try to create training content that mimics match demands. Previous decades have led to the development of an integral approach that seeks to develop all aspects of football within the available time budget. The ideas are very clear: 1. We train like we play,…
HIIT in Football: Practical considerations – what, when & how?
High-intensity interval training (HIIT) has gained significant attention from practitioners in professional football over the past few decades. It is widely used as a powerful tool for enhancing players’ running abilities to meet the demands of modern matches. HIIT enables coaches to target key physiological adaptations through time-efficient formats and often tailored to the sport…
Integrating High-Speed Running (HSR) into Soccer Training: Practical Solutions
In previous posts, we talked a lot about the importance of the weekly distribution of HSR on match performance, injury prevention, and return-to-play (RTP) protocols in football. In case you missed it, I strongly recommend you take a look HERE and HERE. Today we’re going to dig deeper into the world of football coaching and…
Can We Periodize Video Analysis? – Importance of Opponent Analysis in Football: Part 2
Before we start, let me remind you of the introduction to our last blogpost: “I met Josselin Juncker during our time together in FC Sochaux-Montbeliard, France, back in 2018. I have to admit that he left a very strong impression on me since the day one, both because of his huge experience, and relationship with…
Can We Periodize Video Analysis? – Importance of Self Analysis in Football: Part 1
With a large number of our readers playing different roles in professional football, there is a growing need to include other aspects of the game on our blog along with strength & conditioning, sports medicine, sports psychology and nutrition. Video analysis is definitely a hot topic in the world of football, and today I am…
Building The High Performance System: GNK Dinamo Zagreb Approach
Today it is my pleasure to host another brilliant guest blogger. I met Marko a few years ago while he was Head fitness coach of the Football Club Rudeš (Croatia). He is an exceptional young S&C coach and an even better person, who certainly has a lot to offer to the football public. Today, Marko…
Hamstring Strain Injuries and High-Speed Running: Return to Play or Return to High Performance?
As a Part 2 of a blog post about High-Speed Running and Sprinting in Professional Football, I would like to go further and discuss about the impact of injuries on these crucial parameters of the football game. Due to the great interest of Strength & Conditioning, Football and Rehab coaches in this topic, a series…
Managing The In-Season Work in Professional Football: Controlling The Chaos!
Managing the training process of 25 to 30 football players during a competition could be a very complex job. The whole team is usually divided into several working groups according to individual needs, health status and the amount of playing time. At the same time, the groups are very changeable and are constantly separated and…
Motivation in Professional Sport: A Key to Success
In previous years, psychology in sports has experienced a great rise. It become almost impossible to imagine the everyday work of a professional football club without the presence of a sports psychologist. From my humble experience (trust me on this one), what psychology can do for a professional footballer in a short period of time…
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