Football Pre-Season Training: Your Blueprint for Success

This article outlines how to approach football pre-season training the right way. Whether you're a professional, semi-pro, academy player or ambitious youth athlete, the blueprint we share here is grounded in leading evidence and elite-level experience.

Why Pre-Season matters more than ever

A successful football season begins long before the first match. Pre-season is a unique opportunity to rebuild fitness, address weaknesses, and prepare both physically and mentally for the demands of competition.

It's also a period of elevated injury risk. Data from the NCAA injury surveillance system shows that pre-season injury rates in football are 2–4 times higher than in-season (Kerr et al., 2017).

Similarly, Ekstrand et al. (2011) reported that in elite European clubs, 12% of all injuries occurred in the short pre-season period.

Overuse injuries like hamstring and quad strains, groin pain, and Achilles tendinopathy dominate this period. In one study, over 57% of quad injuries occurred during pre-season (Eckard et al., 2017), largely due to increased ball striking loads and inadequate build-up. Proper pre-season training reduces this risk. In another 15-year UEFA study by Ekstrand et al. (2020) found that teams with higher player availability during pre-season had significantly fewer injuries throughout the competitive campaign. The researchers concluded that consistent participation in pre-season was one of the strongest predictors of in-season availability and performance.

Four key pillars to smashing Football Pre-Season

1. Strength & Conditioning (S&C)
2. Football-Specific Conditioning
3. Recovery
4. Injury Prevention

1. Strength & Conditioning

Strength and conditioning during pre-season is critical to prepare the body for training and match demands. Silva et al. (2015) found that footballers benefit significantly from at least two strength training sessions per week to improve power, strength, and neuromuscular control.

We include:

• Compound lifts (e.g., squats, deadlifts, lunges) to build full body strength.
• Upper-body and core exercises to assist in physical duels and body control.
• Plyometrics, sprint and agility movement skills to bridge from the gym to the pitch.
• Daily MOT and service based activities (mobility, stability, movement control) to maximise physical wellbeing and ensure enhanced preparation for football.

At youth level, resistance training is often misunderstood. But Lloyd et al. (2016) showed that age-appropriate, supervised strength training improves performance and reduces injury risk in young athletes.

2. Football-Specific Conditioning

Pre-season running alone isn’t enough. Players must be conditioned for the unique demands of their position and tactical style. For example, this report from 2021 shows that midfielders covering 10km+ on average per game and wingers averaging almost 1000 metres in high intensity running and over 200m of sprinting.

We use:

• Aerobic intervals (tempo runs, 4x4s) to build base endurance.
• Anaerobic conditioning (shuttles, repeated sprints) to match game bursts.
• Reactive agility drills to mimic in-game decisions.
• Position-specific loads—e.g., overlapping for wide players, recovery sprints for centre backs, box to box runs for midfielders.

Each week, load is increased carefully using periodisation models (Bompa & Haff, 2009), and monitored via RPE, GPS, and heart rate data to avoid spikes in training stress.

3. Recovery

Without recovery, training is just stress. Haller et al. (2022) identified nutrition and sleep as the most effective recovery methods in professional football, with others like cold water immersion and compression garments offering moderate support.

Our recommendations:

• 8+ hours sleep per night (Vitale et al., 2019) with consistent sleep & wake times
• Post-session nutrition with 20–30g protein and high-GI carbohydrates within 30 minutes.
• Massage, compression garments, Blood flow restriction, Electronic muscle stimulator & Foam rolling

By integrating these recovery modalities and tracking subjective wellbeing, we ensure players adapt to the training stress and stay sharp.

4. Injury Prevention

Prevention starts with preparation. As mentioned earlier, Ekstrand et al. (2020) tracked 15 years of UEFA club data and found that teams with better pre-season attendance had significantly fewer injuries during the season.

Our prevention strategies:

• Strengthen high-risk zones—eccentric hamstring, hip complex, calf and soleus.
• Individualise based on previous injury history.
• Monitor load-to-readiness ratios to avoid overload.

Early-season ACLs and muscle strains are often the product of poorly structured pre-seasons.

A complete pre-season goes far beyond just “getting fit.” It’s the chance to build resilience, reduce injury risk, and arrive in peak condition.

Whether you’re a first-team pro or an academy prospect, a KPI programme gives you:

• Expert profiling and periodisation
• Individualised S&C program
• Recovery and sports therapy support
• Access to elite-level facilities and coaching

Your best season starts before it even begins, join KPI today.

References

• Ekstrand J, Hägglund M, Waldén M. (2011). Injury incidence and injury patterns in professional football: the UEFA injury study. Br J Sports Med. 45(7):553–558.
• Silva JR, Nassis GP, Rebelo A. (2015). Strength training in soccer with a specific focus on highly trained players. Sports Med Open. 1(1):17.
• Lloyd RS, et al. (2016). National Strength and Conditioning Association position statement on long-term athletic development. J Strength Cond Res. 30(6):1491-509.
• Haller M, et al. (2022). Evidence-Based Recovery in Soccer: A Systematic Review. J Hum Kinet. 82:223–240.
• Ekstrand J, et al. (2020). Injury rates decreased in elite soccer with better pre-season preparation: a 15-year UEFA study. Am J Sports Med.
• Vitale KC, Owens R, Hopkins SR, Malhotra A. (2019). Sleep hygiene for optimizing recovery in athletes: Review and recommendations. Int J Sports Med. 40(8):535-543.
• Eckard TG, et al. (2017). Epidemiology of quadriceps strains in NCAA athletes. J Athl Train. 52(5):474–481.
• van Dyk N, et al. (2019). Hamstring strain injuries: evidence for Eccentric Strengthening in Prevention. Br J Sports Med. 53(6):355-362.
• Bompa TO, Haff GG. (2009). Periodization: Theory and Methodology of Training. 5th ed.