ECSS-NSCA Webinar: Strength & Conditioning in Football

22.05.2025, 17:00 CEST

In modern elite football, players are facing high game demands in terms of increasing amounts of repeated explosive high-intensity activity during the game (with the consequence of fatigue resistance being a critical physical capacity) and a high-volume and high-density game schedule during a season without longer off-season breaks. These recent facts and trends highlight the necessity of optimal short-term as well as long-term solutions of training planning, periodization and load monitoring and management to keep players performing on the best level and available for team training and squad selection in terms of keeping them injury-free. This webinar will bring together leading experts to provide an up-to-date overview on practical applications of scientific knowledge in the elite setting of female and male football.

Key topics will include the latest evidence and trends in elite football on long-term optimization of physical fitness, short-term optimization of freshness and injury risk reduction. In particular, speakers will explore state-of-the-art strategies on load monitoring and management with a special focus on optimizing and maintaining repeated explosive high-intensity capacity by targeted use of training modalities to optimize aerobic capacity, anaerobic capacity and neuromuscular function. In addition, individualized assessment of load-recovery balance is considered in terms of promoting short-term freshness. These aspects aim at optimization of game performance and mitigation of injury risk.

This session is designed for sports scientists, medical doctors, football and athletic coaches as well as physiotherapists, offering a comprehensive understanding of load planning and management in elite football. Through three expert-led presentations followed by a panel discussion, attendees will gain valuable insights into both current best practices and future directions in strength and conditioning in elite football in females and males.

We look forward to an engaging and insightful discussion that will contribute to advancing the field of strength and conditioning in elite football.

Prof Alexander Ferrauti, PhD
Ruhr-Universität Bochum
Faculty of Sport Science
Germany

Prof Andreas Schlumberger, PhD
BSP Business and Law School, Berlin, Germany
Applied Sport Sciences & Personality
High Performance and Rehabilitation Consultant, Dortmund
Germany

"Strength and Conditioning in Elite Football"

In modern elite football, an important physical prerequisite for success in matches is the player´s capacity for repeated high-intensity actions. Within this context, players have to be prepared for high acute match loads (incl. the high-intensity capacity for most demanding phases), adequate in-game recovery, high chronic match loads and fast recovery between matches. Accordingly, targeted physical and physiological training stimuli for the energy systems (aerobic and anaerobic), the neuromuscular system and the specific movement coordination have to be applied. This introductory talk will highlight a holistic training methodological approach for long-term physical preparation. In addition, the speaker will focus on recent trends in the combined use of different training stimuli in the microcycle with the ultimate goal of appropriate single-match preparation.

Assoc Prof Live Steinnes Luteberget, PhD
Norwegian School of Sport Sciences
Department of Physical Performance
Norway

"Training Load Monitoring in Football – How Can We Achieve Optimal Loading?

Training load monitoring has become a standard practice in elite football, with both internal and external loads assessed on a daily basis. The primary goal is to optimize training to enhance performance while minimizing the risk of injury. Achieving this requires more than just tracking the amount of load applied — it also demands a thorough understanding of the athlete's response to that load. In this presentation, we will explore the key benefits and challenges of training load monitoring, with a particular emphasis on the dose-response relationship and its role in achieving optimal training outcomes.

Conall Murtagh, PhD
Head of Physical Performance
Liverpool Football Club
United Kingdom

"Is there a role for resistance training in elite soccer? The need for a systematic approach."

Soccer players will always be judged by what they do on the pitch and not in the gym. However, as resistance training (defined as any training modality that requires a muscle contraction against an external load) methods can enhance the ability to produce, apply and tolerate force during powerful soccer actions, it seems logical this modality should play a role in the physical development of an elite soccer player. Resistance training does come at a cost to the player, and the diverse fixture and pitch training demands in elite soccer makes the planning and prescription a challenge for practitioners in the real world. We present a systematic model whereby the soccer practitioner can effectively prescribe resistance training to maximise player performance levels with specific interventions that compliment rather than compete with the pitch loading demands.