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Pre-season planning in football: The complete guide [fitness-drills, phases, training]

The summer break is drawing to a close, the pitches are slowly filling up again, and the scent of freshly cut grass is in the air – it's time to plan pre-season preparation! For ambitious amateur clubs, this phase is far more than just a light run-out. It's the foundation for a successful season, the key to fitness, tactical finesse, and strong team spirit. In this guide, we'll show you how to structure an optimal pre-season, which elements are essential, and how to get the most out of your team.

Why is the Pre-Season Preparation crucial?

Many only think of grueling runs when they hear "pre-season." But it's so much more:

  • Building Physical Foundations: Without a solid fitness base, neither technically demanding actions nor tactical instructions can be implemented for 90 minutes. Pre-season lays the groundwork for endurance, strength, speed, and helps prevent injuries.
  • Tactical Schooling: New players need to be integrated, and tactical concepts must be taught or refined. Pre-season provides the space to intensively train playing systems, pressing variations, or set pieces.
  • Team Building and Mentality: Shared efforts, initial successes in friendly matches, and getting to know new teammates build cohesion. A positive and competitive mentality is forged here.
  • Technical Refinement: Basic techniques are repeated and solidified under pressure. Passing, ball control, and shooting must be reliable even when energy levels drop.

Those who slack off here will find it difficult to achieve their goals during the season. Well-planned pre-season preparation is therefore not a luxury, but a necessity.

The Phases of Preparation

A typical pre-season in amateur football lasts 6-8 weeks and can be roughly divided into three phases:

  • Phase 1: Building Foundations (approx. 2-3 weeks)
    • Focus: General endurance (aerobic base), basic strength development, ball acclimatisation, simple technical exercises.
    • Intensity: Moderate
    • Volume: High
    • Goal: Accustom the body to exertion, correct muscular imbalances, rediscover the joy of playing with the ball.
  • Phase 2: Development and Football-Specific Conditioning (approx. 2-3 weeks)
    • Focus: Football-specific endurance (e.g., interval runs, game-based drills), development of explosive power, tactical basics (simple plays, defensive behavior), more complex technical exercises under pressure.
    • Intensity: Increasing to high
    • Volume: Moderate to high
    • Goal: Raise fitness to a higher level, introduce initial tactical patterns, increase the intensity of game-based drills. First friendly matches against lower-league opponents.
  • Phase 3: Fine-Tuning and Match Fitness (approx. 2 weeks)
    • Focus: Match-specific loads, speed and explosiveness, complex tactical content (pressing, transition play, set pieces), integrating the likely starting eleven.
    • Intensity: Very high (in training sessions), followed by sufficient recovery.
    • Volume: Reduced (tapering before the season starts)
    • Goal: Achieve peak form, solidify tactical patterns, gain freshness for the start of the season. Friendly matches against equally matched or stronger opponents.

The Pillars of Pre-Season Training

Successful pre-season preparation is based on four essential pillars:

  1. Conditioning:
    • Endurance: Not just long, monotonous runs! Vary with interval methods (HIIT), Fartlek, intensive small-sided and full-pitch games.
    • Strength: Focus on functional strength training, core stability, strengthening leg and torso muscles. Exercises with bodyweight, medicine balls, or light weights are ideal.
    • Speed: Acceleration, reaction speed, speed endurance. Short sprints, agility drills with and without the ball, starting exercises.

               2. Technique:

    • Basic techniques (passing, dribbling, ball control, shooting) under increased tempo and opponent pressure.
    • Game-related drills that combine technical requirements with tactical decision-making.

               3. Tactics:

    • Defensive: Shifting, pressing triggers, defending in zones and man-to-man, transitioning after losing possession.
    • Offensive: Build-up play variations, attacks down the flanks and through the center, transitioning after winning possession.
    • Set Pieces: Own and opponent's corners, free kicks.

                 4. Mental Strength & Team Building:

    • Define and visualize common goals.
    • Team-building activities off the pitch (team dinners, day trips).
    • Promote positive communication and mutual support.
    • Train how to deal with setbacks (e.g., after losing friendly matches).
    • The fun factor should not be neglected: Despite all the effort and discipline, the joy of football should be paramount. Casual game formats, small internal competitions, or team-building activities can keep morale high and strengthen cohesion, especially when legs get heavy.

Nutrition and Recovery – The Forgotten Success Factors

In addition to the four main pillars of training, nutrition and recovery play an often underestimated but crucial role, especially during the intensive pre-season phase:

  • Nutrition: The body needs the right fuel. A balanced diet with sufficient carbohydrates (for energy during training and matches), high-quality proteins (for muscle repair and growth), and healthy fats is essential. Simple tips:
    • Before training: Easily digestible carbohydrates (banana, cereal bar).
    • After training (ideally within 1-2 hours): Combination of carbohydrates and proteins (e.g. curd cheese with fruit, wholemeal bread with chicken breast, regeneration shake).
    • Drink plenty: Water and isotonic drinks, especially on hot days and during intensive sessions.
  • Recovery: Training provides stimuli; during the recovery phase, the body adapts and becomes more efficient. Neglected recovery leads to a drop in performance and an increased risk of injury.
    • Sufficient sleep: 7-9 hours per night are ideal for physical and mental recovery.
    • Active recovery: A light cool-down jog, stretching, or using a foam roller directly after training or on rest days can speed up recovery.
    • Schedule breaks: Not every free minute needs to be filled with additional training. Conscious breaks are important.

Those who consider these aspects give their body the best conditions to cope with the high demands of pre-season and start the season fitter.

Planning and Organising Pre-Season

Planning a good pre-season is the first step to success:

  • Set start and end dates: Usually 6-8 weeks before the first competitive match.
  • Determine training frequency and days: For amateur clubs, 2-4 training sessions per week plus a friendly match on the weekend are realistic.
  • Schedule friendly matches: Start with weaker opponents and increase the challenge. Use friendly matches to gain insights, not just to win. Plan 3-5 friendly matches.
  • Roughly assign training content to phases: Create a framework plan.
  • Prepare materials: Sufficient balls, cones, poles, bibs, etc.
  • Ensure communication: Inform players early about the plan, expectations, and goals. Use a common WhatsApp group or other tools.
  • Actively address and plan for recovery and nutrition (see above).

Integrate video analysis

Video analysis can also offer enormous added value in the amateur sector in order to improve tactical aspects and individual performances. While simple mobile phone recordings of training sessions or test matches can already provide initial insights, specialised companies such as zone14 often offer more accessible and professional solutions for amateur clubs to get the best out of video recordings.

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How can zone14 help optimise pre-season preparation?

  • Professional editing: Instead of spending hours reviewing and editing footage yourself, REPLAY can help you efficiently identify and edit relevant scenes from test matches or training sessions. This saves valuable time for the coaching team.
  • Objective performance evaluation: Video recordings don't lie. With the support of zone14 tools, individual mistakes as well as successful actions can be objectively analysed and presented to the player in a feedback-oriented manner.
  • Simplify tactical analyses: Complex tactical guidelines, such as the shifting of team parts, pressing behaviour or the effectiveness of the build-up play, can be explained and corrected much more clearly using video sequences.
  • Focus on key moments: zone14 can help you recognise recurring patterns in your own game or in the opponent's game, even directly during the match. This can include, for example, the analysis of scoring chances, ball losses in critical zones or behaviour in set-piece situations.
  • Development of training focal points: Specific training content can be derived from the video analyses. For example, if problems repeatedly occur in the build-up to a game under pressure, this can be specifically addressed in training, supported by visual feedback from the analyses.
  • Accessibility for players: Modern video analysis platforms, such as those offered by zone14, often also allow players to access selected scenes. This allows them to reflect on themselves and better internalise tactical guidelines.

The integration of video analysis, ideally with professional support from a provider such as zone14, can significantly increase the quality of your pre-season preparation. It allows for deeper tactical training, more individualised player development and a more objective assessment of performance - even with the limited resources of an amateur club. Find out which packages or services are suitable and affordable for your club.

Example Weekly Plan (Template for a week in Phase 2 or 3)

This is an example for an ambitious amateur club with 3 training sessions + a match:

  • Monday: Rest / Individual recovery (e.g., light jog, stretching, foam rolling)
  • Tuesday (Session 1 - Focus: Conditioning/Technique):
    • Warm-up with ball (passing drills, dribbling)
    • Main Part A: Football-specific endurance (e.g., interval runs with ball actions or intensive 4v4 games to goals)
    • Main Part B: Strength circuit (functional exercises) or technical focus points under fatigue
    • Cool-down
  • Wednesday: Rest / Optional light individual training, focus on nutrition
  • Thursday (Session 2 - Focus: Tactics/Game Formats):
    • Warm-up with coordinative elements and ball
    • Main Part A: Tactical training (e.g., defensive line shifting, practicing pressing variations, build-up play) – Video analysis feedback from zone14 could be incorporated here
    • Main Part B: Game formats on different pitch sizes to apply what was learned (e.g., 8v8 on 2/3 pitch)
    • Finishing game or shooting practice
    • Cool-down
  • Friday (Session 3 - Focus: Speed/Set Pieces/Finishing):
    • Warm-up (dynamic, activating)
    • Main Part A: Speed and agility training (short sprints, changes of direction)
    • Main Part B: Set pieces (corners, free kicks – offensive/defensive) – Analysis of past set pieces with zone14 possible
    • Short, intensive game format (e.g., 5v5 with quick rotations)
    • Cool-down (very light)
  • Saturday: Friendly match – Recording for analysis by zone14
  • Sunday: Rest / Recovery, focus on protein-rich nutrition

Important: This is just a template! Adjust the content and intensities to your team's performance level and the respective pre-season phase. Ensure sufficient recovery times and consider the individual needs of your players.

Typical Mistakes in Pre-Season Preparation (and how to avoid them)

Planning an ambitious pre-season is one thing, successfully implementing it is another. Here are some pitfalls to avoid:

  • Mistake 1: Too much, too soon. Ambition is high, but an overly abrupt increase in volume and intensity often leads to overload and injuries. Better: Increase gradually and listen to the body's signals.
  • Mistake 2: One-sidedness. Only doing mindless forest runs or exclusively game formats without conditioning stimuli is not effective. The mix of conditioning, technique, tactics, and fun is key!
  • Mistake 3: Underestimating recovery and nutrition. The body needs time and the right nutrients to adapt and recover. Sufficient sleep, conscious nutrition, and active recovery are mandatory.
  • Mistake 4: Overvaluing friendly match results. Results are secondary in pre-season. More important are insights into your own game, the implementation of tactical instructions, and fitness development.
  • Mistake 5: Lack of communication and flexibility. If players don't know why they are doing certain things, or if the plan is rigidly followed without adapting to current conditions (weather, player well-being), motivation and commitment suffer.

The Transition from Pre-Season to the Season

The intensive pre-season is over, the foundations are laid – but what's next? The transition into the season requires a smart adjustment of training and load:

  • Load Management: Volumes are generally reduced, but intensity remains high to maintain the built-up form and ensure explosiveness for matches. "Less is often more" is the motto here to avoid overtraining.
  • Specific Match Preparation: The focus shifts more towards tactical preparation for the next opponent. The opponent's strengths and weaknesses are analyzed, and your own game is adjusted accordingly.
  • Fine-tuning Set Pieces: Set pieces can decide matches. The variations practiced in pre-season are further refined and adapted to opponents.
  • Recovery Remains Central: Continuous recovery is crucial even during the season to deliver top performances week after week and prevent injuries.
  • Keep an Eye on Form: Not all players will be able to maintain their top form throughout the entire season. Targeted individual measures or short, intensive stimuli can help overcome dips in form.

The start of the season is not the end of the work, but the beginning of a new phase in which the fruits of hard pre-season labor are to be harvested.

Conclusion

Carefully planned and executed pre-season preparation is the cornerstone of success in amateur football. It requires commitment from coaches and players but pays off in terms of fitness, tactical understanding, team spirit, and ultimately, better results on the pitch. Considering aspects like nutrition, recovery, fun, and a smart transition into the season, supplemented by modern tools like video analysis – possibly with support from specialized providers like zone14 – can further optimize this process. Use the principles presented here to optimally plan your pre-season preparation and best prepare your team for the upcoming challenges. Good luck!

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