For many amateur players, football recovery is an afterthought at best; completely ignored at worst. A few stretches and a couple of pints may feel like job done after a tough match, but it’s not ideal if you take the game seriously. 

In fact, what happens after the final whistle blows is as important as what happens in the build up to the match. Considering many footballers can run up to 12km pr game, including plenty of turns, sprints, sudden stops and hard tackles, injury and soreness seems inevitable. 

But it doesn’t have to be. Read our blog to find out more.

Conditioning is a word that didn’t seem to exist in football decades ago – back when pies and pints were more common after a match than ice baths and protein shakes. 

Today, every professional football team will have a squad of strength and conditioning coaches ready to keep their players in great shape and performing at the top of their game.

Read our blog to find out more about how you can introduce football conditioning to your routine.

While a lot of football training and matches take place on wet, cold nights, the pre-season period often means that players will be training in hot weather. The pre-season is vital preparation for the upcoming season, and players need to make the most of the opportunity to get match-fit over the summer.

Find the best ways to make the most of training in heat and how to avoid the risks today.

It wasn't all that long ago that a footballer's diet was a pre-match fry up with all the trimmings, followed by a slice of orange at half-time and a pie and pint to wash it all down after the final whistle. Brian Clough even encouraged his players to drink before a cup final.

But those days are well behind us now, and a footballer's diet today is carefully tailored to the needs and high intensity of the beautiful game. Nutrition is top of the list for a football player's diet, focusing on tailoring the diet to a training schedule and ensuring that footballers play at the top of their game.

Many of us will have dreamt of growing up to be world-class footballers – but for 99% of people, that dream never becomes a reality.

So, instead, our attention turns to helping our children learn from our mistakes, develop their game and reach their potential.

In this article, we offer everything you need to know to become a great football parent and help your child succeed.

Wondering how to train for football? Check out our complete football training guide with football training drills and tips today.

While football training for adults is a technical, tactical and physical challenge, for children just beginning their journey in the beautiful game, the focus is on fun.

Or, at least, it should be.

Grassroots football has become less popular these days, which may be down to the more competitive nature of the game, with many parents putting too much stress on their youngsters to become a future Fernandinho.

But as parents and coaches, it is our duty to strike the right balance between developing our children’s skills and making sure they have fun. So, it’s time to inject some FUN back into training!

Whether you are a youth coach or simply want to be a better footballing parent, here are some ideas on how to make football training fun for kids.

All of us have suffered an ankle roll – whether it was stepping down from the curb, landing from a height or getting caught out on a football field, it can be a chronic cause of instability – and more importantly, robbed game time! Therefore, doing all we can to try and protect against, if not prevent an ankle injury is of the utmost importance! Here we are going to outline some of the key considerations.

Hamstring tears can blight the careers of many players across the footballing pyramid, especially those that suffer more than one!

These 5 tips can help you reduce your risk of a hamstring injury, allowing you to increase your minutes, improve your performance and potentially prolong your footballing career.