Importance of nutrition in football: the coach’s perspective

We often hear from the scientific community of the importance of sports science within football, but too often the voices of coaches are not heard in the best practice guidelines, when they could offer valuable insight. The goal of any elite team is high performance—to win as many matches as possible over the duration of the season. There are myriad factors involved in the achievement of such performance, including technical, tactical, mental and physical qualities. One area that I have emphasised for many years (as early as the 1980s) that can help us achieve our performance goals is nutrition, an area that has grown in importance within the game. For the coach, nutrition has the following objectives within the performance model: 1. To ensure that players are in prime physical condition for each match, with optimal levels of body fat and muscle mass. 2. To accelerate recovery following a match or a hard training session. 3. To ensure that players are adequately fuelled and have the energy required …