How to plan a football warm up

Praised as an excellent method of keeping fit and healthy, football offers people everywhere a great opportunity to get their recommended hours of exercise in a fun and sociable way. Many football players take this highly seriously, never skipping training and practicing multiple times a week to keep their skills sharp for matches, while others dip in and out of the game, playing as and when they feel like it. Both methods of enjoying football are valid, and both need to be prepared for in the same way; through a football warm-up.

More than just a way of passing the time while you wait for your late teammates to arrive for practice, a football warm-up is a vital element of any training session. Designed to get your blood pumping, muscles limber and mind ready, making sure you do a pre-training or pre-match warm up can significantly improve your performance and keep your body safer while you play. 

To help you construct an effective football warm-up for yourself or others, we’ve put together this easy-to-follow guide. Containing everything from fun football warm ups and games which are great for kids, to targeted football warm up stretches which focus on protecting players of all ages from injury, choose your favourite football warm up drills, games and stretches below and get ready to play safely.

Why do footballers need to warm up?

Properly readying your body with a pre-match warm up has a long list of benefits, from reduced risk of injury, which protects not just your body, but also your team and its rankings in any league, to mental benefits that help you prepare and focus on the game ahead. A football warm-up can also help you to make significant improvements on performance by sharpening your decision-making reaction times.

There is no doubt that a good football warm-up is the perfect way to prepare your mind and body, either before a training session or on match-day. See a more comprehensive list of the benefits of warming up below:

• Reduces your risk of injury

• Increases your body temperature, which improves the elasticity and shock-absorption abilities of your muscles

• Improves your ability to focus, which further improves coordination and reaction times

• Gradually prepares your cardiovascular and respiratory systems for prolonged exercise

• Sharpens your performance skills and muscle memory

How long is a football warm up?

If you can, setting aside anywhere between 15 and 20 minutes for your football warm up exercises will allow you to get the most out of the activity. However, if you’re running late on match day and have only five minutes before a game, use the time to warm up as much as you can. Not only will this give your body a little additional energy and protection from injury, but it will also allow your mind to eliminate the stress of a late arrival and swap your attention to the match at-hand.

What is a good warm-up for football?

A good football warm up needs to do three things; stretch out your body, increase your core temperature and sharpen your skills. To help you build the best football warm up routine, we’ve put together our favourite stretches, games and drills. Don’t worry, you don’t need to do everything we’ve listed below (that would be a whole training session in itself, rather than a quick pre-match warm up), just select the ones you feel will benefit you and the other players the most, and aim for it to last 15 to 20 minutes. If you train regularly and play plenty of matches, you could also try mixing it up each time to keep your football warm-up interesting.

Safety note: If you’re warming up without a coach to supervise, we recommend only performing the football warm up stretches and exercises that you know how to do safely.

Football warm up games

Perfect for raising your heartbeat, increasing your core temperature and getting your body moving, football warm up games are a fun alternative to traditional warm-up drills such as sprinting and jumping jacks. Particularly good for youth training, these activities and games are highly engaging and target team building at the same time as readying the body.

1v1 tag games: Playing in pairs, players are labelled as tagger and runner, with one of the roles in each pair. The aim for the runner is to make it two minutes without being tagged by running around the pitch and dogging the tagger, who must tag them before the timer runs out. Swap roles to allow everyone to play in both roles.

Relay races: Split players up into teams of at least three and set up two cones per team, one at the start line and one 10 metres away. On the whistle, one player must run from the start, around the second cone, and back to the start. Once they’ve passed the cone, the second runner can go. The first team to have all runners circle the second cone and return wins.

Stuck in the mud: Identify one or more ‘taggers’ and give them a bib or different coloured football jersey to make them easily identifiable by the other players. These taggers must tag players, who must stand still with their legs apart. Stuck players can only be freed by a non-tagged player crawling through their legs. The taggers can win this game by tagging everyone, and the opposing team can win by remaining untagged for the duration of the timer (which can be chosen by you).

Football warm-up drills

Skill-enhancing warm up exercises can focus on anything from dribbling to passing to shooting, and perform the basic function of waking up a player’s technical skills. 

Dribbling warm-up: Set up pairs of cones across the pitch in a random pattern. Players should dribble the ball around the course, trying to move quickly while getting the ball through each pair of cones.

Passing the football warm-up: This drill improves teamwork, passing accuracy and all the traditional benefits of a traditional football warm up. Working in teams, make your way up the length of the pitch, passing between yourself and your partner at regular intervals.

Fast feet warm-up: One of football’s best known pulse raiser activities, fast feet sees players alternate between running for 10 metres, switching to taking as many small steps as possible for the next 10 metres, and repeating.

Sprint warm-up: With cones set up on the pitch, sprint from one cone to the next at 25% speed. Pause at the cone and sprint back to the first cone at 50% speed. Run back to the other cone at 75% speed, before returning to the first once again at 100% speed.

Speed shooting warm-up: Moving in quick succession, each player dribbles the ball to the goal and takes a shot before running out of the way so the next player can shoot. This activity doesn’t require a goalkeeper, and functions as an easy final activity before beginning training or the match.

Football warm up stretches 

Particularly important for warming up your muscles and increasing their elasticity, stretching is the last step in reducing your risk of injury on the pitch. More specifically, stretches for football should cover your whole body, getting it ready for intense exercise, but it is particularly important to focus on your legs. Many of the most common football injuries are pulled quads, hamstrings and groin strains, so building up your body’s defences against these types of injuries is worth those extra few minutes.

Shoulder stretch: Keeping your shoulders lowered, reach for the centre of your upper back with one hand. To increase your reach, use the other hand to gently push on your elbow. Repeat the movement using the other hand. This stretches out your shoulders, chest and arms.

Hip stretch: In a standing position and keeping your knees as close together as possible, lift one foot and hold it behind you. This should stretch out the muscles on the front of your leg. Repeat for the other leg.

Calf stretch: Place your feet apart with one leg in front of the other and, bending the front knee, lean forward. With your back leg straight and foot flat on the floor, you should feel the stretch in your calf. Hold for 15 to 20 seconds, before repeating for the other leg.

Achilles tendon stretch: Also known as a heel stretch, this focuses on gently loosening your achilles tendon. Simply set one leg in front of the other and, bending the front leg, keep your heel firmly on the ground. You’ll know you’re holding the right position by the stretched feeling just above your heel. Repeat on the other leg.

Hamstring stretch: Sitting on the ground with your legs straight in front of you, slowly stretch forward, reaching for your feet with your hands. The stretch should be felt all the way down your hamstrings, and should loosen them ready for your training.

Groin and thigh stretch: Remaining seated, bring your knees to your chest with your back straight. Slowly, and keeping your feet together, allow your knees to open and drop to the floor. To deepen this stretch, use your elbows to gently push your knees further open, getting them as close to the floor as you can manage (without too much force). This should stretch your groin and upper thighs.

Make every training session safe with Avec Sport

Whether you’re serious about football and want to train professionally, or are just taking part every now and then for fun and fitness, make sure you take every precaution to protect yourself and your body by doing a full football warm-up before every session. 

At Avec Sport, we have a wide range of premium quality football training wear and team kits available to help you get the most out of practices and matches. Designed to enhance performance through improved ventilation and comfort, browse our collections online at Avec Sport.