Football training and competition

  • 261

    Total Views and Downloads

About this Research Topic

Submission deadlines

  1. Manuscript Summary Submission Deadline 17 April 2025 | Manuscript Submission Deadline 17 October 2025

  2. This Research Topic is still accepting articles.

Background

Soccer is the world’s most popular sport, engaging millions of participants. This widespread appeal has sparked significant interest within the scientific community, particularly in understanding the multifaceted dimensions of sport performance. Despite the substantial investment in football research, the continuous evolution of technology has led to ongoing advancements in evaluating, programming, and enhancing the sport. For instance, the rise of artificial intelligence has introduced new opportunities, such as using AI to program and monitor player development. More than ever, the scientific community now possesses the tools and knowledge—thanks to the increasing openness of clubs and coaching staff to applied research—that can drive the sport’s growth by addressing practical challenges and adopting more holistic analyses (i.e., integrating various performance dimensions).

This Research Topic aims to stimulate scientific inquiry that enhances coaches, technical teams, and club members' ability to measure, program, and plan training sessions. Equally important is creating learning environments that foster technical, creative, and tactical development for players of different skill levels. In terms of competition, we seek research that deepens our understanding of interactions between players and other game participants (e.g., referees) during different phases of the game (e.g., attack and defense) and assesses player performance by considering the interconnectedness of various dimensions (e.g., the physical demands of reacting to ball loss resulting from poor positioning).

Thus, this Collection aims to promote the advancement of scientific knowledge in soccer performance by adopting holistic approaches to analyze behavior in representative settings. We encourage researchers to submit manuscripts in the form of Original Research, Narrative Reviews, Systematic Reviews, Commentaries, and Perspectives on soccer training and competition topics.

• Testing and assessment of performance (e.g., testing batteries for physical or technical measurements).
• Spatial-temporal analysis of players’ performance (e.g., positioning-related variables during offensive and defensive performances)
• Artificial intelligence (AI) applied to soccer training and competition (e.g., applications of AI to monitor and prescribe training tasks)
• Monitoring players’ internal and external load in both training and match environments (e.g., players’ exposition to high-speed actions during training sessions).
• Planning, Periodization, and programming of training sessions (e.g., microcycles characterization).
• Training interventions aiming to improve players’ behavior (e.g., physical, technical, tactical, creative behavior, etc.).
• Perceptual and cognitive training and measurement (e.g., understanding scanning behavior or promoting training tasks to emphasize decision-making behavior);
• Observational instruments to measure players’ technical and tactical performance in training and competition (e.g., assessing technical decision-making, and patterns during build-up phases).
• Performance analysis applied to training and competition (e.g., effects of coach dismissal; evolutionary trends of playing positions; contextual variables).
• Talent identification and developmental pathways in soccer (e.g., bio-banding; relative age effects)

This Research Topic, welcomes different paper types, including opinions and reviews to synthesize expert knowledge (e.g., narrative papers, systematic reviews)

Research Topic Research topic image

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

  • Brief Research Report
  • Case Report
  • Clinical Trial
  • Conceptual Analysis
  • Data Report
  • Editorial
  • General Commentary
  • Hypothesis and Theory
  • Methods

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Keywords: performance testing, technical measurement, spatial-temporal analysis, creative behaviour, positioning variables, artificial intelligence, player load monitoring, training session periodication, trianing program design, small-sided games, perceptual cognition, psychological variables

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

Frequently asked questions

  • Frontiers' Research Topics are collaborative hubs built around an emerging theme.Defined, managed, and led by renowned researchers, they bring communities together around a shared area of interest to stimulate collaboration and innovation.

    Unlike section journals, which serve established specialty communities, Research Topics are pioneer hubs, responding to the evolving scientific landscape and catering to new communities.

  • The goal of Frontiers' publishing program is to empower research communities to actively steer the course of scientific publishing. Our program was implemented as a three-part unit with fixed field journals, flexible specialty sections, and dynamically emerging Research Topics, connecting communities of different sizes and maturity.

    Research Topics originate from the scientific community. Many of our Research Topics are suggested by existing editorial board members who have identified critical challenges or areas of interest in their field.

  • As an editor, Research Topics will help you build your journal, as well as your community, around emerging, cutting-edge research. As research trailblazers, Research Topics attract high-quality submissions from leading experts all over the world.

    A thriving Research Topic can potentially evolve into a new specialty section if there is sustained interest and a growing community around it.

  • Each Research Topic must be approved by the specialty chief editor, and it falls under the editorial oversight of our editorial boards, supported by our in-house research integrity team. The same standards and rigorous peer review processes apply to articles published as part of a Research Topic as for any other article we publish.

    In 2023, 80% of the Research Topics we published were edited or co-edited by our editorial board members, who are already familiar with their journal's scope, ethos, and publishing model. All other topics are guest edited by leaders in their field, each vetted and formally approved by the specialty chief editor.

  • Publishing your article within a Research Topic with other related articles increases its discoverability and visibility, which can lead to more views, downloads, and citations. Research Topics grow dynamically as more published articles are added, causing frequent revisiting, and further visibility.

    As Research Topics are multidisciplinary, they are cross-listed in several fields and section journals – increasing your reach even more and giving you the chance to expand your network and collaborate with researchers in different fields, all focusing on expanding knowledge around the same important topic.

    Our larger Research Topics are also converted into ebooks and receive social media promotion from our digital marketing team.

  • Frontiers offers multiple article types, but it will depend on the field and section journals in which the Research Topic will be featured. The available article types for a Research Topic will appear in the drop-down menu during the submission process.

    Check available article types here 

  • Yes, we would love to hear your ideas for a topic. Most of our Research Topics are community-led and suggested by researchers in the field. Our in-house editorial team will contact you to talk about your idea and whether you’d like to edit the topic. If you’re an early-stage researcher, we will offer you the opportunity to coordinate your topic, with the support of a senior researcher as the topic editor. 

    Suggest your topic here 

  • A team of guest editors (called topic editors) lead their Research Topic. This editorial team oversees the entire process, from the initial topic proposal to calls for participation, the peer review, and final publications.

    The team may also include topic coordinators, who help the topic editors send calls for participation, liaise with topic editors on abstracts, and support contributing authors. In some cases, they can also be assigned as reviewers.

  • As a topic editor (TE), you will take the lead on all editorial decisions for the Research Topic, starting with defining its scope. This allows you to curate research around a topic that interests you, bring together different perspectives from leading researchers across different fields and shape the future of your field. 

    You will choose your team of co-editors, curate a list of potential authors, send calls for participation and oversee the peer review process, accepting or recommending rejection for each manuscript submitted.

  • As a topic editor, you're supported at every stage by our in-house team. You will be assigned a single point of contact to help you on both editorial and technical matters. Your topic is managed through our user-friendly online platform, and the peer review process is supported by our industry-first AI review assistant (AIRA).

  • If you’re an early-stage researcher, we will offer you the opportunity to coordinate your topic, with the support of a senior researcher as the topic editor. This provides you with valuable editorial experience, improving your ability to critically evaluate research articles and enhancing your understanding of the quality standards and requirements for scientific publishing, as well as the opportunity to discover new research in your field, and expand your professional network.

  • Yes, certificates can be issued on request. We are happy to provide a certificate for your contribution to editing a successful Research Topic.

  • Research Topics thrive on collaboration and their multi-disciplinary approach around emerging, cutting-edge themes, attract leading researchers from all over the world.

  • As a topic editor, you can set the timeline for your Research Topic, and we will work with you at your pace. Typically, Research Topics are online and open for submissions within a few weeks and remain open for participation for 6 – 12 months. Individual articles within a Research Topic are published as soon as they are ready.

    Find out more about our Research Topics

  • Our fee support program ensures that all articles that pass peer review, including those published in Research Topics, can benefit from open access – regardless of the author's field or funding situation.

    Authors and institutions with insufficient funding can apply for a discount on their publishing fees. A fee support application form is available on our website.

  • In line with our mission to promote healthy lives on a healthy planet, we do not provide printed materials. All our articles and ebooks are available under a CC-BY license, so you can share and print copies.

Participating Journals

Manuscripts can be submitted to this Research Topic via the main journal or any other participating journal.

Impact

  • 261Topic views
View impact