Speed and agility training for amateur footballers

Speed in football isn’t just a 100 m time. It’s the first two steps to a loose ball, the burst past a full back, the turn to track a runner and the recovery run when you’ve been caught upfield. Each of those can be trained.

What sprints look like in a match

In semi-professional football, most sprints were short, around 18 m on average, and many of them were curved rather than straight Oliva-Lozano et al. 2023. Wide players and full backs do the most high-speed running, centre backs the least Bradley et al. 2009, and the same order shows up in amateur football Kaldaras et al. 2024. Amateur players run less than professionals Mohr et al. 2003, so judge your progress against your own times, not the pro numbers.

Get stronger first

For short sprints and jumps, getting stronger is one of the most effective things you can do. Recent network meta-analyses comparing training methods in footballers ranked strength training at or near the top for 5–20 m sprint and jump performance; the picture was less clear for 30–40 m Wang et al. 2026 Du et al. 2026 Oliver et al. 2023. A heavy squat or trap bar deadlift once or twice a week, plus single-leg work and jumps, builds the force that acceleration needs. See the in-season gym programme.

What about sled sprints? They helped elite players but not amateurs in the research, so they’re not worth the hassle. Strength and plain sprinting give you more for less.

Acceleration

• 4–6 × 10–20 m from different starts: standing, jogging, side-on, back to goal.
• Walk back recovery, or about a minute.
• Focus on driving forward with a strong lean and powerful first steps.

Top speed

Your hamstrings need regular exposure to near-top-speed running. If club training didn’t include any that week, add 3–6 runs at 90–95% of full pace over 30–50 m, with two or three minutes between them, three or four days before a match. Observational research in Gaelic football and hurling found both too little and too much high-speed running went with more injuries Malone et al. 2017 Malone et al. 2019, so keep the dose small and regular rather than big and occasional.

Curved sprints

Because many match sprints bend, include curved runs: sprint along a curve marked by cones, such as the arc of the penalty area, in both directions. Add them to your acceleration or top-speed work once a week.

Change of direction and agility

Change of direction is a planned turn, such as a 505 test or a cone drill. Agility adds a decision: you react to a cue, a partner or a ball. Both matter, and a recent meta-analysis in footballers supports blocks of training for both Zhao et al. 2026.

A sensible structure is about two sessions a week of 15–25 minutes, in blocks of 6–8 weeks:

1. Deceleration first. Sprint 10 m and stop in two or three steps, low and balanced. Learn to brake before you learn to cut fast.
2. Gentle angles, then sharp ones. Start with 45° cuts, move to 90°, then 180° turns. This order is coaching method rather than tested, but it builds control before load.
3. Add reactions. Mirror drills with a partner, reacting to a pointed direction or a called colour, or chasing a partner who changes direction.

Do the planned drills on both feet. Most players have a favourite side.

Repeated sprints

Being able to sprint again and again late in a game comes mostly from sprint and jump training. Small-sided games and interval running didn’t improve repeated-sprint ability much in the research Liu et al. 2024 Clemente et al. 2021. For wide players and midfielders, short repeated-sprint sets (for example 6 × 20–30 m with 20–25 seconds between) are an optional extra in late pre-season.

How to fit it in

Most gyms don’t have 50 m of clear space, but your club pitch does. Get to club training about 25 minutes early: a 10-minute sprint warm-up, then 12–15 minutes of sprints, then train as normal. It keeps your gym sessions for lifting and puts your fast work on a day that’s already hard, so your easy days stay easy. Across 16 elite teams, there were no match hamstring injuries when players ran above 95% of their top speed in training two days before the game, but that study was observational and in professionals Buchheit et al. 2023. No study has tested sprinting straight before amateur team training, so keep it short.

• Do speed work first, after a running warm-up, while you’re fresh. Leave strength exercises and Nordics until after: a full FIFA 11+ with its strength part made amateurs slightly slower over 10–20 m than a running warm-up Ayala et al. 2017.
• Not the night before a game, and not the night after one.
• No space at all? Short sprints in a 20 m gym space, or jumps and bounds. Nothing fully replaces top-speed running.
• Use full recovery. If the reps feel like conditioning, they’re not speed work any more.
• Stop when you slow down or your form drops.
• Use a proper warm-up first. A FIFA 11+-based warm-up includes plant-and-cut drills that prepare you well FIFA 11+.

Test yourself

Every six to eight weeks, time a 10 m and 30 m sprint (a phone video works) and a 505 change-of-direction test on both turning legs. Compare with your own previous times. A difference between your left and right turns is useful to know, but it isn’t a warning sign on its own.