Soccer might be one of the hardest sports to train for. Players need endurance to run for 90 minutes, with only one 15-minute break. And in the World Cup knockout rounds, if there is a tie, match time could extend to 120 minutes. Over the course of a game, the average player runs between six and eight miles. But endurance is just a piece of the puzzle. Players also need to be capable of explosive acceleration, quick stops, jumping, and have a surprising amount of upper body strength.
Plus, soccer is really hard to predict. Unlike sports like cycling or rowing, the exact movements of a soccer match are dependent on the movements of 21 other players and can feel completely spontaneous.
In order to find out how soccer players can train for a sport that is so physiologically complex and chaotic, Vox producer Nate Krieger went to a practice with Brooklyn FC, a professional soccer team in the USL Championship League. He talked to forward Stefan Stojanovic and tried a drill designed by the team’s head of performance, Michael Higbee, to see how hard training for soccer can really be.
Read more about the fitness required to play high-level soccer:
- Chris Barnes on the evolution of sports science in professional soccer.
- Sportsmith is a platform for trainers and coaches that has a lot of information about sports science and fitness.
- This Sports Illustrated article breaks down how many miles a player runs in a game, broken down by position.
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