Running outside of soccer practice. There is a lot of debate about whether or not this is wise for footballers. In addition, it is of course also important for football players to stay fit when the football competition comes to a standstill; how can this be done? We will cover all of this in this article.
Table of Contents
- Is running (off the football field) wise for footballers?
- Is 5K a good distance for footballers?
- What is the best running training for footballers?
- How often should footballers go for a run?
Is running (off the football field) wise for footballers?
Yes, running outside the football field is certainly wise for football players! Running can improve your fitness and strengthen your leg muscles and this is certainly a plus for football players. Especially when the football competition comes to a standstill, running is a good way for football players to keep their fitness up.
If you have many matches and training sessions as a football player, it is essential not to run too intensively and often. This can lead to overload, we will discuss this in more detail in a moment.
A review[1] by F. Marcello laia and colleagues showed that per game, top-class soccer players perform about 2-3 km of high-intensity running (>15km/h) and about 0.6 km of sprinting (>20km/h). In addition, it emerged that top-class football players run and sprint between 28% and 58% more than moderate-level professional players. And less successful teams showed greater drops in overall sprint distance throughout the game. This shows that being able to perform high-intensity activity is very important for football performance.
In addition, this review also showed that fatigue during the match leads to poorer passing. The football technique is therefore also influenced by the running capacity.
Is 5K a good distance for footballers?
In the review that we just discussed, it also emerged that it is wise to make your running training sessions as similar as possible to a match situation for football performance. So to see which distance is the best, it is first important to see how many kilometers football players run in a match. Below are some estimated distances in a table.
| Professional football players | Amateur football players | |
| Defenders | ~ 9/10 km | ~ 7 km |
| Midfielders | ~ 11 km | ~ 8 km |
| Attackers | ~ 9/10 km | ~ 7 km |
If you are a football player yourself, it would be best to measure how many km you travel during several matches. In this way, you can adapt your running training to your match situation.
For professional football players, a running training of about 10 km is recommended, for amateur football players, this is about 7.5 km. Because these are long distances, this is only recommended if you have enough rest! In case you have plenty of football training & matches, these distances are not recommended. Then 5 km can be a good alternative.
What is the best running training for footballers?
Now that we know what a good running distance is, it is still important to know how to run that distance. For example, is it best to keep running at the same pace or can you better alternate high and low speeds?
Even though interval training looks more like a game-specific situation, both training sessions can contribute to the running ability during a game. We must make a distinction between aerobic training (exertion that you can sustain for a relatively long time) and anaerobic training (exertion that is vigorous but can sustain you for a short time).
The aforementioned review[1] by F. Marcello laia and colleagues made the following clear:
- Aerobic high-intensity training can lead to better endurance and faster recovery between high-intensity phases within the game.
- Anaerobic training can allow a football player to sustain high-intensity activity for longer and to exhibit high-intensity activity more frequently throughout the game.
Both high-intensity aerobic and speed-endurance training (anaerobic) appeared to lead to a performance increase of about 10-15%. In addition, a higher VO2-max was also measured in both.
A study in the review showed that 4×4 min continuous running at the same pace (90-95% of maximum heart rate) increased the VO2-max, but was less effective at improving football-specific performance compared to repeated-sprint training. Intermittent exercise thus appears to be better than continuous exercise for footballers.
In addition, several practical tips emerged in the review to make the training as match-specific as possible:
- Try to incorporate quick direction changes into your running workout. You also change direction a lot during a match.
- Although running workouts can be very effective, small-sided games seem to be the most effective for increasing performance.
- Try to adapt your running training to your position on the field. For example, central defenders will run more at 1 pace compared to wingers.
How often should footballers go for a run?
This question is not easy to answer. The answer mainly depends on 2 important factors: 1) How much do you already exert yourself every week and 2) how much exertion can your body handle.
If you already have a lot of football training & matches, it is not wise to also run a lot. Unless your body can handle this of course.
The best advice we can give is to simply try the amount of running your body can handle. It is very important to pay attention to the symptoms of overload when you’re doing this! If you experience symptoms of overload, you should immediately reduce your training frequency. You can find the symptoms of overload by clicking here.
Lifestyle coach [5+ years of fitness experience]