Soccer players need more than endurance to make it through a full match. Across 90 minutes, players repeatedly sprint, accelerate, cut, jump, and compete for the ball, often under fatigue. While endurance supports sustained effort, it does not fully prepare an athlete for decisive, high-force actions; strength develops those actions, but it must be paired with the conditioning needed to repeat them. That’s where strength training can help soccer players.
Building strength can help soccer players move with more power, handle the physical demands of the game and build durability throughout the season. It can also play a role in reducing the risk of common soccer injuries. Combining strength training with endurance work, sometimes called concurrent training, gives players a more complete approach to preparing for the demands of soccer.
In this article, we’ll look at how strength training can support soccer performance, exercises that can help reduce injury risk, and ways to fit strength and conditioning into a busy soccer schedule.
How strength training improves soccer performance
Research indicates that adding regular strength training to soccer practice — commonly two sessions per week during preseason and one session per week in season — can improve several qualities that influence match performance.1,2 In practical terms, that can help players move faster, jump higher, change direction more efficiently and repeat high-intensity efforts throughout a game.
Those improvements matter because soccer asks players to produce and absorb force over and over again.
Whether a player is accelerating toward the ball, stopping quickly, changing direction, jumping for a header or landing after a challenge, strength helps the body handle those demands.
How strength training helps prevent soccer injuries
Strength provides more than a performance advantage — it builds durability. Progressive strength training helps the body handle the forces placed on it during soccer.
- Muscles: Strength training helps muscles produce and absorb force, control movement, and tolerate repeated sprinting, cutting, and landing.
- Tendons: Gradual loading helps tendons handle force and transfer energy more efficiently.
- Joints and ligaments: Stronger surrounding muscles can improve joint control and reduce strain during fast or awkward movements.
- Bones: Regular resistance training can help bones become stronger and better able to withstand repeated impact.
Soccer injury prevention exercises
The exercises below target common soccer injury patterns and show how strength and neuromuscular training can help players build the physical capacity needed for the game. The right exercises and amount of training will vary based on the player’s age, experience, technical proficiency, current soccer workload and injury history.
Hamstring injury prevention
A meta-analysis of 15 studies involving 8,459 athletes found that programs containing Nordic hamstring exercises reduced hamstring injury rates by about 51% compared with programs without them.3
Nordic hamstring curls increase eccentric strength — the hamstrings’ ability to produce force while lengthening — and can increase fascicle length, preparing them to handle the high forces involved in sprinting, particularly as the leg swings forward before the foot hits the ground.
Groin injury prevention
A cluster-randomized trial involving 35 semiprofessional soccer teams found that a progressive adductor-strengthening program based on the Copenhagen Adduction exercise reduced players’ risk of reporting groin problems by 41% compared with normal training. The program was performed three times weekly during preseason and once weekly during the competitive season.4
Copenhagen Planks strengthen the muscles along the inside of the thigh, helping them handle the demands of kicking, sprinting and changing direction.
ACL injury prevention and neuromuscular training
ACL injuries in soccer often occur during non-contact moments such as cutting, pivoting, sudden deceleration or landing from a jump, especially when the knee moves inward and the hip, trunk and lower leg are not well controlled. Strength, balance, plyometric and neuromuscular exercises can help players improve landing mechanics, single-leg control and body awareness so they are better prepared to manage these high-risk movements.
Walking Lunges (with or without weights) help train the body to keep the knee aligned over the foot while the hip, glutes, quadriceps and hamstrings work together. By strengthening each leg independently and challenging balance through a controlled step-and-lower pattern, lunges can improve single-leg control and lower-body stability needed for safer changes of direction, landings and accelerations on the field.
Ankle sprain prevention and neuromuscular training
Strength training appears to contribute to ankle-sprain prevention in soccer, but the strongest evidence supports combining strength with balance, proprioceptive, and plyometric exercises. Multicomponent programs such as FIFA 11+ have demonstrated approximately 30–40% reductions in ankle-injury risk.5
Lateral jumps add strength, balance and control while challenging players to land and move side to side.
How to schedule strength training around soccer
The sequence and timing of supplemental strength and conditioning sessions around soccer training and matches during the season can influence session quality, recovery, adaptation, and match-day performance.
Follow these three rules for smarter programming:
- Protect the priority. Train the day’s most important quality while fresh. If speed or power is the goal, sprint or lift before hard conditioning. If match fitness is the priority, lead with the key soccer-conditioning session.
- Separate demanding lower-body sessions. When possible, schedule hard strength and endurance work on different days (or allow at least 3–6 hours between sessions) to protect training quality and recovery.
- Let the soccer calendar lead. When a game is still several days away, there is more room for harder training. As game day approaches, reduce the overall amount of training while keeping the quality high.
The match schedule should anchor the week. Youth players, adults, starters, substitutes, and athletes with previous injuries may all require different training volumes and recovery strategies. Adjust the plan to the athlete, not the other way around.
How often should soccer players strength train?
To put all of this into practice, start with one or two well-tolerated strength sessions each week, prioritize high-quality repetitions, and increase load gradually. Keep demanding lower-body work away from matches when possible, monitor soreness and performance, and adjust the plan when soccer volume rises.
Athletes returning from injury or managing persistent symptoms should work with a physical therapist.
How can a physical therapist help?
Physical therapy helps soccer players safely return to play after an injury by reducing pain, restoring mobility, rebuilding strength, and improving sport-specific movement. A physical therapist can guide athletes through a gradual return-to-play process so they regain confidence, meet the demands of soccer, and reduce the risk of returning too soon.
Physical therapy also supports injury prevention by improving flexibility, balance, core stability, strength, and movement mechanics throughout the season. With individualized exercises and screening, players can lower their risk of common soccer injuries such as ankle sprains, muscle strains, knee pain, and overuse issues while staying strong and ready to perform.
Expert Physical Therapy for Soccer Players
Ready to play the full 90 stronger and safer? Whether you’re recovering from a soccer injury or looking to build a smarter in-season training routine, expert guidance can make all the difference. Schedule an evaluation with our physical therapy team today and keep yourself match-ready all season long.
References
- Silva, J. R., Nassis, G. P., & Rebelo, A. (2015). Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 29(5), 1488–1509.
- Chelly, M. S., et al. (2009). Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 23(8), 2241–2250.
- Van Dyk, N., Behan, F. P., & Whiteley, R. (2019). Including the Nordic hamstring exercise in injury prevention programmes halves the rate of hamstring injuries: A systematic review and meta-analysis of 8,459 athletes. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 53(21), 1362–1370. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2018-100045
- Harøy, J., Clarsen, B., Wiger, E. G., Øyen, M. G., Serner, A., Thorborg, K., Hölmich, P., Andersen, T. E., & Bahr, R. (2019). The Adductor Strengthening Programme prevents groin problems among male football players: A cluster-randomised controlled trial. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 53(3), 150–157. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2017-098937
- Al Attar WSA, Khaledi EH, Bakhsh JM, Faude O, Ghulam H, Sanders RH. Injury prevention programs that include balance training exercises reduce ankle injury rates among soccer players: a systematic review. J Physiother. 2022 Jul;68(3):165-173. doi: 10.1016/j.jphys.2022.05.019. Epub 2022 Jun 23. PMID: 35753965.
