Tournament Preparation by Jens Bangsbo (Patreon)

Many teams participate in tournaments before and after the season. Preparation for such competitions should be carefully considered. To provide some recommendations, we will use the World Cup as an example, as it is one of the longest tournaments and often has an extensive preparation phase. 

For the Football World Cup, the performance level must be high from the start of the tournament to ensure qualification in the group stage, as well as in the knockout games. Therefore, careful planning is required, both in the preparation that precedes it and during the tournament itself, which can last up to six weeks. 

A pertinent question is when to gather the players for the World Cup preparation. There is no absolutely correct answer due to the many factors involved, of which psychological aspects are the most important. Traditionally, players gather 5-6 weeks before the start of the World Cup. However, the example of the Danish team, which won the European Championship in 1992 with only 10 days of preparation, may lead many coaches to rethink how to optimize this period. 

The preparation of the Danish team was not definitely optimal, as some of the players did not have a sufficient level of physical condition at the beginning of the tournament. On the other hand, the situation was advantageous in that the players did not become mentally exhausted, something that often happens during long-duration tournaments after an extensive preparation period. 

There are many paths to success, and each coach must decide which strategy is most appropriate for their team, taking into account multiple factors, such as the need for tactical development, optimization of the players' physical condition level, tradition, and psychological aspects.

However, there are some general aspects that should be considered for the preparation period and the tournament itself. The preparation period is divided into a maintenance period and a rebuilding period, the latter lasting 5 weeks. The following table presents a suggestion on the priorities of different types of physical condition training, considering a maintenance period of 2 weeks and a rebuilding period of 5 weeks.

Maintenance Period 

The maintenance period goes from the end of the season to the beginning of the rebuilding period. The duration of the maintenance period can vary, not only between countries but also among players of the same team. In most countries, national team players play in various championships. Therefore, the end of the season is not coincidental for different players. Players who finish the season earlier have the advantage of having more time to mentally relax after the season. On the other hand, these players have a higher risk of a significant reduction in their physical capacity. 

Therefore, these players should, preferably together, be subject to a physical condition training program during the maintenance period. Players who finish the season later also need to recover mentally before starting the intense part of the preparation for the World Cup. For this reason, they should have an interval, but without allowing a significant decrease in their physical capacity. It is well known today that in a period with reduced training there is little change in maximum oxygen consumption. However, a rapid and significant reduction in the level of muscle enzymes associated with endurance capacity can be observed. Moreover, it takes some time to restore muscle endurance capacity. 

Therefore, it is important to maintain the level of enzymes associated with muscle endurance during the maintenance period to achieve an optimal level of physical condition at the beginning of the World Cup. The best way to achieve this goal is with moderate-intensity aerobic training. For a top football player, training sessions of 45-60 minutes, 3-4 times a week are usually sufficient. It is recommended that muscle strength and endurance training be done minimally during the maintenance period.

Rebuilding Period

During the rebuilding period, emphasis should be placed on high-intensity aerobic training and anaerobic training. In the first three weeks, the physical demand should be increased slowly, with very limited priority to anaerobic training in the first week. In the last week before the start of the World Cup, the training load should be reduced, with priority given to high-intensity aerobic training and speed training. The physical condition training program during the rebuilding period should leave a lot of room for tactical and technical training. National coaches rarely have the opportunity to keep players together for weeks, so it is a unique opportunity to work on tactical aspects, such as set-pieces, circulations, etc. 

It is advantageous to play some high-level competitive games during the rebuilding period since some players have not played a game for more than four weeks. The games should be played at the end of the second week and in the middle of the fourth week of the rebuilding period, that is, 3 and 1 and a half weeks before the start of the tournament. Along with the goal of improving physical capacity, the games are also useful for re-establishing the technical level, as well as for tactical-strategic development. 

A group of players who may need special attention during the rebuilding period is those who play infrequently. Often the physical load of these players is not high enough. In a study with a Danish team, conducted out of season when preparing for the quarterfinals of a European competition, it was observed that only the players who competed regularly improved their maximum oxygen consumption. Therefore, it is very important to play some games during the preparation period, using the players from the team who compete less frequently.

Tournament Period 

It is often believed that, once the tournament has started, it is no longer necessary to do physical condition training. However, this is not true. In general, the day after a game, those players who participated in a large fraction of the game should do low-intensity aerobic training (recovery). The next day, they can do high-intensity aerobic training for 20-30 minutes and, occasionally, speed training. Two days later, if this is the day before the next game, only low-intensity aerobic training should be done, with the duration of the training session not exceeding 60 minutes. These are general guidelines, but individual needs must be taken into account, for example, if a player appears to be overloaded, the demand on them should be reduced. 

For players who did not participate in the game or played only a small part of it, the training the day after the game should be physically demanding. It should consist mainly of high-intensity aerobic training and for short periods of speed-endurance training. It is important to be aware of the need to keep substitute players at a high level of physical condition, as some of these players may become key elements during the final phase of the tournament, for example, due to injuries and penalties within the team. As during the preparation period, muscle strength and endurance training should be performed minimally during the tournament.

Reference: 'Aerobic and Anaerobic Training in Football: Special Emphasis on Training of Youth Players (Fitness Training in Football)'