How Verheijen's Football Periodisation

Inspired the Creation of SoccerPulse

June 29, 2017

Matt Danaher

It was three years ago this month that one of my good friends introduced me to
Raymond Verheijen and the training method of Football Periodisation. For those
unfamiliar with Raymond, which I was at the time, reading his book on Football
Periodisation: Always Play with Your Strongest Team was the equivalent of taking
the red pill in the movie The Matrix. Once you understand it, you will never look at
football the same way again.

I decided to read it, and down the rabbit hole I went.

For those who haven't read it, I will try to give as brief of a synopsis as I can, although
you are better off reading it for yourself. Basically, Raymond has developed a
periodized training model based specifically on the game of football itself. This involves
manipulating the following variables

 
1. The number of players

2. The size of the pitch

3. The work duration

4. The rest duration

5. The number of sets

Raymond's model has three categories of games, based on the football characteristic
he is looking to train: