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Football Nutrition Advice for Grassroot and Elite Players

There are a number of areas to consider when discussing Football Nutrition or Sports nutrition as a whole. With such scope, it can be daunting to know if your diet is fit for a footballer.Well, within this section of the PlayerScout site we will try to simplify the grey areas of a footballers diet and give nutrition tips that you can start using today to improve your game.


The Different Areas of Football Nutrition?

The sports nutrition industry has grown rapidly in the last 10-15 years and with it so have the marketing messages from health and supplement suppliers. The sheer number of conflicting statements you hear on the radio, in gyms, on TV and social media creates confusion.

Before we clear some of this confusion it's important to understand all the areas that come under football nutrition (these apply to all sports nutrition).

This image shows all the key areas of nutrition for football players. This can cover anything from nutrient timing, supplements and preparation and even the optimum fluid intake needed.

The huge world of nutrition for performance can be overwhelming and many people are unsure where to begin.

So we are going to try to simplify football nutrition and explain the impact it has on performance.

What is the difference between Football Nutrition and nutrition?

The best place to start is understanding the difference between sports nutrition and normal nutrition.


However, Football nutrition has a slightly different definition:
Football Nutrition is the specialized branch of nutrition that studies food with relevance to athletic performance

So football nutrition doesn’t look at what the body’s dietary needs are, but what you need to improve performance on the field and in training.

It doesn’t matter how you train or workout, you need to appreciate just how important sports nutrition is, as you can’t out exercise a bad diet.


8 Benefits of good football nutrition

So how can you benefit from adopting a good football nutrition plan?

  1. Eating a healthy balanced diet helps to refuel energy system, allowing you to train and play at a higher intensity for longer.
  2. Proper football nutrition can help you reach weight loss/gain targets.
  3. Eating the correct foods can Boosts your immune system, preventing colds and flu throughout the season.
  4. Improves your performance - Proper fueling can dramatically improve your performance especially as you get to a higher level of football.
  5. Delays Fatigue – which is one of the ultimate goals of our workouts, so we can stay energised for longer
  6. Getting the right nutrients in the correct quantity can protect you against injury
  7. Enhances our concentration levels - No matter what position you play in, you must concentrate for the full 90 minutes, as a lapse in concentration can massively affect your performance.
  8. Good nutrition can generally help to prevent and fight disease

Good football nutrition is so important for your performance in training and on the pitch. It has many short term and long term effects on metabolism, body composition, recovery and even your mood.

Football Nutrition Plan

Fail to plan, plan to fail.

The key to healthy a footballers diet is planning your meals and hydration in advance.

An important component of this is nutrient timing. Knowing what foods and in what quantity you need can make all the difference on the pitch.

Find out what to eat before a match, what to eat during a football match and what to eat after a match to give you the edge over the opposition.





Nutritional Supplements

Eating a healthy diet is essential to any football player, however in some cases a healthy diet may not provide all of the nutrients needed by the body.

This is when nutritional supplements may be necessary. Check below for our latest articles on dietary supplements and which are safe and recommended by sporting authorities.

Water and Hydration

There are ongoing discussing regarding the amount of water you should drink per day. However, all experts agree that an active person must drink a lot more than a sedentary individual. Below we have listed the latest information for hydration and water intake to help improve your performance and recovery.

stay hydrated

Top Tips to Stay Hydrated and enable your body to perform at optimum levels when it matters most.