Football Training and Competition - Volume II

This Research Topic is the second volume of “Football training and competition.” You can view the previous volume here.

Soccer is the world’s most popular sport, engaging millions of participants. This widespread appeal has sparked significant interest within the scientific community, particularly in understanding the multifaceted dimensions of sport performance. Despite the substantial investment in football research, the continuous evolution of technology has led to ongoing advancements in evaluating, programming, and enhancing the sport. For instance, the rise of artificial intelligence has introduced new opportunities, such as using AI to program and monitor player development. More than ever, the scientific community now possesses the tools and knowledge—thanks to the increasing openness of clubs and coaching staff to applied research—that can drive the sport’s growth by addressing practical challenges and adopting more holistic analyses (i.e., integrating various performance dimensions).

This Research Topic aims to stimulate scientific inquiry that enhances coaches, technical teams, and club members' ability to measure, program, and plan training sessions. Equally important is creating learning environments that foster technical, creative, and tactical development for players of different skill levels. In terms of competition, we seek research that deepens our understanding of interactions between players and other game participants (e.g., referees) during different phases of the game (e.g., attack and defense) and assesses player performance by considering the interconnectedness of various dimensions (e.g., the physical demands of reacting to ball loss resulting from poor positioning).

Thus, this Collection aims to promote the advancement of scientific knowledge in soccer performance by adopting holistic approaches to analyze behavior in representative settings. We encourage researchers to submit manuscripts in the form of Original Research, Narrative Reviews, Systematic Reviews, Commentaries, and Perspectives on soccer training and competition topics.

• Testing and assessment of performance (e.g., testing batteries for physical or technical measurements).
• Spatial-temporal analysis of players’ performance (e.g., positioning-related variables during offensive and defensive performances)
• Artificial intelligence (AI) applied to soccer training and competition (e.g., applications of AI to monitor and prescribe training tasks)
• Monitoring players’ internal and external load in both training and match environments (e.g., players’ exposition to high-speed actions during training sessions).
• Planning, Periodization, and programming of training sessions (e.g., microcycles characterization).
• Training interventions aiming to improve players’ behavior (e.g., physical, technical, tactical, creative behavior, etc.).
• Perceptual and cognitive training and measurement (e.g., understanding scanning behavior or promoting training tasks to emphasize decision-making behavior);
• Observational instruments to measure players’ technical and tactical performance in training and competition (e.g., assessing technical decision-making, and patterns during build-up phases).
• Performance analysis applied to training and competition (e.g., effects of coach dismissal; evolutionary trends of playing positions; contextual variables).
• Talent identification and developmental pathways in soccer (e.g., bio-banding; relative age effects)