How many sprints does a soccer player do in a game?

In a study of UEFA Europa League matches, players averaged about 11 sprints above 24 km/h and covered about 237m at sprint speed. Forwards and wide players sprint more than central midfielders and central defenders.

How can I get faster for soccer?

Sprint 10–30m at full effort with 2–3 minutes of rest, one or two days a week in season and two or three in the off-season. Add jumps and lower-body strength work, run some reps on a curve, and keep conditioning on separate days.

Should soccer players train curved sprints?

Yes. In a Premier League analysis, 86% of sprints had some degree of curvature. Curve sprint ability was also only moderately related to 90-degree cutting ability in soccer players, so practice curves directly and run them in both directions.

How do I improve repeated sprint ability?

A review of repeated-sprint training recommends two things: training that raises your single-sprint speed, such as sprinting and strength and power work, and high-intensity intervals to improve how fast you recover between sprints.

Should I do speed training the day before a game?

Keep the day before a match light. Do your last short, fast session two days out so you start the match fresh.

Speed training for soccer: how to get faster for the way matches are played

By the Sprint University coaching team

To get faster for soccer, sprint short and fully rested: 10–30m reps at 98–100% effort with 2–3 minutes between them, one or two days a week in season and two or three in the off-season. Run some of those reps on a curve and from a rolling start, because that is how most match sprints begin.

Professional players sprint about 11 times a match, and roughly 90% of those sprints last under five seconds. Repeated sprint fitness matters too, and one of the two things a review recommends for it is raising your single-sprint speed. Keep conditioning on its own days.

How much do soccer players sprint?

Across 10 UEFA Europa League matches, players averaged 11.2 sprints above 24 km/h and 237m of total sprint distance. Forwards covered about 345m at sprint speed and central midfielders about 167m. Roughly nine in ten sprints lasted under five seconds.

Your position changes the load. In more than 700 players tracked in Champions League and UEFA Cup matches, wide midfielders made the most sprints and covered the most sprint distance, and central defenders the least. Plan extra top-speed exposure if you play out wide or up front.

The sprints that count tend to come right before goals. In 360 Bundesliga goals, a straight sprint was the most common powerful action by the scorer, in 45% of goals, and also the most common action by the player who made the assist.

Curved sprints, rolling starts and decelerations

Match sprints rarely look like a 40-yard dash. When researchers classified 901 sprints by a Premier League team, 86% were run with some curvature, 66% began from a rolling acceleration instead of a standstill, and 62% involved some torso rotation. In the same matches, 58% of sprints came out of possession, and closing down an opponent was the most common reason to sprint.

Straight speed still carries over. In a study of soccer players, linear 17m sprint times were strongly related to both curve sprint and 90-degree cutting times. Curve sprinting and cutting were only moderately related to each other, though, and about 70% of players were stronger in opposite directions on the two tests. Train straight sprints for raw speed, and practice curves and cuts as separate skills in both directions.

Soccer also asks you to stop. A meta-analysis of GPS data from elite team sports found that soccer had the largest excess of hard decelerations over hard accelerations of any sport studied. Practice braking from speed in a few steps under control, and build the leg strength to absorb it.

Repeated sprint ability

Repeated sprint ability is your best average speed over a series of sprints of up to 10 seconds, separated by 60 seconds or less. Part of it is conditioning. A review of repeated-sprint training found no single method that improves every factor behind it, and made two recommendations: train to raise your single-sprint speed, and add high-intensity intervals at 80–90% of your VO2max to recover faster between efforts.

You can cover the first part on your own. Keep the speed sessions pure, with full rest, so they raise your single-sprint speed, and let small-sided games and your coach's conditioning handle the intervals.

The Sprint University app

Your speed block, adjusted to how you recovered

Sprint University reads your HRV, resting heart rate and sleep from Apple Health each morning, plus a short check-in. On a low-readiness day, after a hard match say, it keeps the session but trims multi-set blocks to about 70% of their sets at the same intensity.

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An off-season speed week

The off-season is when you can push speed hardest. Week 1 of Sprint University's base program alternates high and low days, with two or three sprint sessions a week:

Day 1Acceleration + SledHigh day
Day 2Jumps + ThrowsLow day
Day 3Sprint-Float-SprintHigh day
Day 4Recovery Tempo (optional)Low day
Day 5Top Speed, Flying 20sHigh day
Day 6Active Recovery (optional)Low day

Day 1 is the acceleration session below. Its 20–40m reps match the short sprints that make up most of a match, and the sled push trains a long, low push off the ground.

Week 1, day 1 · Acceleration

Acceleration + Sled

High day

Block	Prescription
Track warm-up	15 min: easy jog, dynamic drills, build-ups
20m sprints	4 × 20m @ 98–100%, rest 2 min
30m sprints	2 × 30m @ 98–100%, rest 3 min
40m sprint	1 × 40m @ 95–100%, rest 4 min
Sled push	4 × 10m, light sled (~10–15% bodyweight), rest 2 min No sled? 5 × 15m hill sprints or partner-resisted sprints
Backward run	2 × 60m, walk-back rest
Barefoot cooldown walk	One easy lap of the track barefoot, unhurried

Jumps help as well. A meta-analysis found that plyometric training improves sprint performance, with horizontal jumps such as bounds and broad jumps carrying over best. The plyometrics for sprinters guide gives the sets. Strength counts too: gains in squat strength carry over to sprint speed. If you need conditioning, put it on a low day, away from the sprint sessions.

An in-season week around matches

In season, the match is your biggest speed session, and the rest of the week has to fit around it. A review of elite sprint training gives intensive sprint sessions at least 48 hours of recovery, and a review of post-match fatigue in soccer notes that three days between matches may not be enough for full physical recovery. For a Saturday match, a week can look like this:

Day	Focus	Speed work
Match day +1	Recovery	No sprinting. Easy movement and mobility.
Match day +2	Rest or low	Off, or a light team session.
Match day −4	High: acceleration	4 × 20m and 2 × 30m @ 98–100%, rest 2–3 min. Run two of the 20s on a curve, one each way. Lift after.
Match day −3	Team training	Your coach's session. No extra speed work.
Match day −2	High, short: top speed	3 × 10m, then 2–3 × flying 20m with a 20m run-in @ 100%, rest 5 min.
Match day −1	Low	Team walkthrough and set pieces.
Match day	Match	Full warm-up before kickoff.

The rep counts come from the program's acceleration and flying-20 sessions, trimmed so they fit a match week. If you play twice in a week, drop the match day −4 session and keep only the short top-speed session two days before the next game. Start every session with a full sprint warm-up.

Hamstrings take the strain of high-speed running. A meta-analysis of 8,459 athletes found that injury prevention programs including the Nordic hamstring exercise cut the rate of hamstring injuries roughly in half, so keep it in your lifting through the season.

Test yourself so you know the work is paying off. A 10m sprint from a standing start measures your burst, and a flying 20m measures your top speed. Retest every four to six weeks on the same surface, in the same boots and with the same timing method, early in the week when you are fresh. If your times stall while your match minutes climb, cut the speed volume before you add more.

Common mistakes

Calling shuttle runs speed work: Short-rest repeats build fitness. For speed, rest about 2 minutes after a 20m sprint and 3 after a 30m, and stop when your reps slow down.
Only sprinting in straight lines: Most match sprints curve. Swap some straight reps for curved ones and run them in both directions.
Always starting from a standstill: Two in three Premier League sprints began on the move. Add rolling starts from a jog or a backpedal.
Sprinting hard the day after a match: Recover first. Your sprint session goes later in the week, once your legs feel fresh.

The how to get faster for football guide covers starts and the first 10 yards in more depth, and the acceleration drills guide has more sled and hill options. To put a number on your speed, rate your 40-yard dash or convert it with our speed calculator.