Pre-season

Pre-season is defined as the period after the off-season period, when training is conducted collectively and often includes friendly matches.

The focus of a pre-season is improving the physical, technical and tactical aspects of the sport, providing the team with the best possible chance for success. Because of this, practitioners need to determine the best periodization model to suit their team. Independently of the model, pre-season is generally characterized by progressive increases in training loads. It is common for teams to aim to achieve the highest training loads during pre-season.

Frequently, one of the pre-season goals is to ensure that the players achieve a new individual maximum for field training loads, from both an intensity and volume stand point of view. It is however important to note that training load stressors are one of the biggest predictors for injury and illness. It has been shown that an increase in training load whilst providing insufficient recovery increases the risk to injury. Therefore, appropriate pre-season planning needs to take place to limit these issues from occurring.

Pre-season allows for athletes to be able to tolerate greater training loads by increasing their working capacity, not only on the football training but also in other important aspects of players preparation, i.e. strength and power work.