What do football clubs do in pre-season training?

For football clubs, pre-season is about making the best use of time in order to begin the new campaign in top condition.

It is up to each individual team to decide how much time they want to dedicate to pre-season and what they want to do during it.

Generally, pre-season training begins around a month before the resumption of the league, and that period includes a combination of fitness exercises, training drills and friendly matches.

With the football calendar expanding at the elite level due to the creation of new tournaments like the revamped Fifa Club World Cup and extended Uefa Champions League, pre-season is valued highly by managers because they have less opportunity to coach tactical plans on the training pitch once the campaign starts.

Furthermore, it usually includes the integration of new signings and a chance for squads to spend time building trustful relationships.

Though pre-season may predominantly take place at a team's training ground, it can also incorporate camps abroad and lucrative tours.

What do teams do first?

It has become common for clubs to stagger the return of their first-team players at the beginning of pre-season training.

Those who have had a longer break - having not participated in any international tournaments, or who did not play as much towards the end of the previous campaign - are brought back before those who require additional rest.

Staggered returns mean clubs can perform vital individual tests which take place at the beginning of pre-season training.

Those tests are designed to measure the fitness, health and general physical wellbeing of players so individual training programs for things like gym work can be designed by coaching and analysis staff, with the goal of maximising each player's condition before the start of the campaign.

These tests can include:

• Heart screening - to check for any abnormalities which could cause health problems further down the line
• Jump and hop tests - to monitor symmetry between the limbs, concentric strength, explosive strength, and provide data for injury rehab if necessary
• Musculoskeletal examination - to check the baseline level of movement in a player's joints, so the club knows the level of movement to aim for when a player is recovering from injury
• Muscle strength test - to measure the amount of force a player is able to produce, so that improvements or reductions can be monitored over time
• General fitness - usually either a four-minute run or lactate test, both of which are designed to measure how a player's body reacts to physical exertion, including things like heart rate and anaerobic metabolism

The difficulty of these tests, especially after time off without dedicating as much time and energy to fitness, can make pre-season very challenging for players.

What happens in training sessions?

Pre-season gives managers an opportunity to instil the tactical blueprint they want their team to use during the forthcoming season.

That may be a refinement comprising subtle changes to what was used in the last campaign, or could be a complete overhaul of what the team was doing previously, especially if a new boss has taken charge.

Managers, coaching staff and analysts design a series of training drills designed to teach players how to play in a particular system, and then aim to test it in different scenarios.

An example of teaching players a new three-at-the-back system would be to set up small-sided games, in which the three central defenders' job is to be always out-of-possession against a small collection of attackers trying to play through them. The goal is for the three defenders to understand how to move in unison, in order to simultaneously block the path to goal, keep the offside line level, and cover space adequately by shifting side-to-side at the right time.

Testing the tactical system which has been taught to players can include things like asking a team made up of reserve and youth players to behave in a certain way. This could be forming a low-block 5-4-1 shape to mimic a hyper-defensive side the team could potentially come up against at some point during the season, and instructing them to find a way through it using the new system.

The exact nature of the drills performed depends on the preferences of the coaching staff, and is combined with seminar-style teaching in meetings which incorporate video and data analysis.

What about matches?

The scheduling of matches can vary significantly between clubs.

Some managers prefer to spend most of their time on the training ground, and may ask their club to schedule only one or two fixtures to help players build up match fitness.

Others prefer to play somewhere between five and 10 pre-season fixtures so by the time the campaign starts, players feel as though they've been in a match rhythm for a long time already.

Some matches are held behind closed doors, with no spectators present. These usually occur early in pre-season and are designed as an introduction to regain match fitness and provide a preliminary test of tactics.

Others form part of tours to places such as USA or Asia and are primarily designed to generate revenue for participating clubs, as well as providing a run-out for players.

Matches may also be scheduled against local teams during training camps or at a club's home stadium shortly before the start of the season.

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