Soccer players are underrated athletes

[chrismikayla]

I didn't consider them supreme athletes until I met a couple of Atlanta Silverbacks in person and mind you these aren't the very best of the best. A kid I know in high school went with his team to play around with them on the field and some of these guys were big and had HUGE calf muscles. They were obviously not running at full speed and leaving these top high schoolers in the dust. I have a newfound respect for these guys.

[AlexDelta]

Yeah, they are underrated in the US, because they aren't build like brick walls. Every top athlete is crazy athletic, just in a different way.

[Higga]

The amount of stamina required to play 90 minutes at the pro level is insane. I play pick up Soccer regularly(couple times a week) and after an hour or so we're just gassed.

[White+Purple]

American Football and Basketball don't require endurance as much as real football does, so it gets underrated as a physical trait.

[britblazerdude]

They aren't underrated athletes. Americans just say stupid stuff about soccer players because they don't look like the monsters in basketball, hockey, and football.

[Foye]

The amount of stamina required to play 90 minutes at the pro level is insane. I play pick up Soccer regularly(couple times a week) and after an hour or so we're just gassed.

What is pure hell, is if you had a regular game and then an hour or so later want to take part in a pick up game. Your body is so exhausted from the regular game and has already adapted to being finished for the day.
The guys I'm usually running circles around are then running circles around me.

[britblazerdude]

[bigboi]

American Football and Basketball don't require endurance as much as real football does, so it gets underrated as a physical trait.

Endurance is actually a huge part of American football, but unfortunately foreign people don't know too much about the sport

[AlexDelta]

American Football and Basketball don't require endurance as much as real football does, so it gets underrated as a physical trait.

Endurance is actually a huge part of American football, but unfortunately foreign people don't know too much about the sport

Compared to soccer football requires less stamina though. In football it's much more important to be able to release a huge amount of energy in a short time, while in soccer you'll have to spread it over 90 minutes.

[treiz]

What is pure hell, is if you had a regular game and then an hour or so later want to take part in a pick up game. Your body is so exhausted from the regular game and has already adapted to being finished for the day.
The guys I'm usually running circles around are then running circles around me.

I tend to nap straight after a game too! Which is the main reason I like to play in the evening, so I can go straight to bed after

[treiz]

American Football and Basketball don't require endurance as much as real football does, so it gets underrated as a physical trait.

Endurance is actually a huge part of American football, but unfortunately foreign people don't know too much about the sport

Endurance is a huge part of any sport, but to you can't compare the endurance of a football athlete (45 minutes straight) to an American football athlete (bursts with very short breaks in between plays)

[and1GS]

When I was in college I used to play pickup bball for 2 hours then soccer for one hour several times a week. Now, I play a 90-minute league match and I'm dead after

In contrast, played a co-rec league with my girl and felt like I had been napping for 90 minutes after each match. Turns out you don't do much as a left back in co-rec, but it did make me feel super human when I start 5 steps behind a girl and beat her to a through ball

[AlexDelta]

What is pure hell, is if you had a regular game and then an hour or so later want to take part in a pick up game. Your body is so exhausted from the regular game and has already adapted to being finished for the day.
The guys I'm usually running circles around are then running circles around me.

I tend to nap straight after a game too! Which is the main reason I like to play in the evening, so I can go straight to bed after

The day after is the worst. Especially if you haven't played for a couple of months. Worst pain ever.

[bigboi]

American Football and Basketball don't require endurance as much as real football does, so it gets underrated as a physical trait.

Endurance is actually a huge part of American football, but unfortunately foreign people don't know too much about the sport

Endurance is a huge part of any sport, but to you can't compare the endurance of a football athlete (45 minutes straight) to an American football athlete (bursts with very short breaks in between plays)

But that's the thing people don't understand about football, yes you can. Soccer players may have to play the 45 minutes straight, but football players are getting knocked around, running, jumping, etc all in pads which makes it even harder. Also football players suffer the most injuries out of any sport so lasting a whole season takes a ridiculous amount of endurance, that's why football players generally can't play too long. Even the practices are the hardest IMO, if you've ever been part of a football team, you'd understand.

[AlexDelta]

Endurance is actually a huge part of American football, but unfortunately foreign people don't know too much about the sport

Endurance is a huge part of any sport, but to you can't compare the endurance of a football athlete (45 minutes straight) to an American football athlete (bursts with very short breaks in between plays)

But that's the thing people don't understand about football, yes you can. Soccer players may have to play the 45 minutes straight, but football players are getting knocked around, running, jumping, etc all in pads which makes it even harder. Also football players suffer the most injuries out of any sport so lasting a whole season takes a ridiculous amount of endurance, that's why football players generally can't play too long. Even the practices are the hardest IMO, if you've ever been part of a football team, you'd understand.

It's still a different kind of endurance. Soccer players are used to playing injured, too. Back injuries and lower body injuries are pretty common injuries in soccer, you won't find many players that haven't played through injuries. It was even worse before subs were allowed, Bert Trautmann for example finished a match with a broken neck.

[White+Purple]

http://gizmodo.com/5992583/how-far-do-y ... ent-sports

Tennis: 3 miles in 3hrs
NBA: 2-2.5 miles in 36min
NFL: 1.25 miles in 11min
Football: 5 miles in 90min

Very impressive numbers for very different reasons.

[treiz]

But that's the thing people don't understand about football, yes you can. Soccer players may have to play the 45 minutes straight, but football players are getting knocked around, running, jumping, etc all in pads which makes it even harder. Also football players suffer the most injuries out of any sport so lasting a whole season takes a ridiculous amount of endurance, that's why football players generally can't play too long. Even the practices are the hardest IMO, if you've ever been part of a football team, you'd understand.

But again that's the same for every sport, you won't be able to name one professional athlete who isn't carrying an niggling injury. It's just part of being a professional athlete.

Of course you can't, running for bursts per play whilst having a few breather here and there is a completely different scenario to playing 45 minutes straight. I'm not trying to put down American football athletes, but it's a different type of endurance, whereas like you said not only do they have to be physically fit but they also have to get accustomed to wearing pads and thus work on their upper bodies more. Whereas football players need to work on their on their lower bodies and ensure that they are able to run around for 90 minutes. And that's the big difference and why it can't be compared, because American football players requires pads to play.

The day after is the worst. Especially if you haven't played for a couple of months. Worst pain ever.

Sucks even more if you have to get up early for school/work the next day!

[sca]

http://gizmodo.com/5992583/how-far-do-you-run-in-different-sports

Tennis: 3 miles in 3hrs
NBA: 2-2.5 miles in 36min
NFL: 1.25 miles in 11min
Football: 5 miles in 90min

Very impressive numbers for very different reasons.

I thought football players ran much more?
This link says 7 miles: http://tribesports.com/blog/the-average ... ent-sports
This one says 7 to 9.5 miles: http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/h ... -1.1307763

[Doormatt]

American Football and Basketball don't require endurance as much as real football does, so it gets underrated as a physical trait.

Endurance is actually a huge part of American football, but unfortunately foreign people don't know too much about the sport

yeah but "foreign people" dont question the athleticism of american football players, while i find soccer players are definitely questioned by american fans because there upper bodies arent as big in general (nor would it be ideal for a soccer player to be as swole as an american football player).

[Ascrilas]

Like it has been pointed out, the distance a soccer player covers is dependent on his position. Apart from goalkeepers, central-backs tend to run the least while defensive midfielders run the most. This number is heavily correlated to the teams' playing style though - teams who rely on ball-dominant posession football (e.g. Bayern Munich) don't run as much teams who like to counter-attack (e.g. Borussia Dortmund). Also, the type of game plays a role - if one team is leading 4-0 after 60 minutes in an unimportant, obiously both teams will coast. Therefore, just stating the 'average distance' being covered is a bit simplistic.

Nevertheless, I think you can say for sure that every professional soccer player is expected of being able to run at least 11 kilometres (~6.8 miles) per 90 minutes. Like I said, this number changes from match to match due to the reasons I mentioned - in a rather meaningless game, it is possible that the majority won't break the 10 km-mark (~6.2 miles). in a high-intensity match of supreme significance (e.g. a knock-out game in the CL) the covered distance will rise, and it is normal to run 12 km (~7.5 miles) if you are not a centre-back, forward or goalkeeper.

Let's post some examples. The Bundesliga is probably the league who provides the most detailed stat package.
Here is an exemplary match-sheet (of the Bayern's last Bundesliga game). If you click on the players' names, you can see all important stats including covered distance. For example, Thomas Müller leads all players with 11.79 kilometres (he usually does). The majority is hovering around the 10.5 km-mark though, as it was the last game of the season and it couldn't change the outcome of anything.

Another example - an actually meaningful game, the CL semi between Bayern and Barcelona (second leg, 3-0 Bayern win, hehe). The UEFA also provides stats, not as detailed as the Bundesliga ones, but still, covered distance is included. If you click through the names, you will see, that e.g. the Bayern players are hovering around the 11.5 km per 90-mark now. The leading playing is again Müller with 12.8 km (~8 miles).

But of course, you cannot bring this kind of effort every game, so this shows the peak number, and 12.8 km für Müller is actually very impressive, especially because he played as a supporting striker who normally don't run that much.

There are some defensive midfielders though who can provide this on a daily basis. The two players in the Bundesliga who run the most are Christoph Kramer from Mönchengladbach (also in Germany's WC squad) and Vladímir Darida from Freiburg (both playing in a double pivot), who run 13.1 km resp. 12.9 km per 90 on average - an insane number. The highest number of distance covered in a Bundeliga match in recent years belongs to Tolga Ciğerci, who noted something like 14.2 km (~8.8 miles) once. (But this is an outlier, of course).

TL;DR: 7 miles on average is probably adequate. However, players are able to run up to 8 miles or even more in important matches. (The 9.5 miles who have been mentioned are not realistic though.) Even goalies cover between 2.5 and 3.5 miles per 90.
The amount of stamina and endurance you need to be a soccer player is incredible. Please also note that while they only play once or twice a week, they don't have a lot of time to rest. An NBA player has to play a crazy number of games, but they also have a three to four-month off-season. If Germany reached the World Cup final, the players would have to play on 13th July. The first matchday of the Bundesliga is on 22nd August. For most of the clubs, training camp has already begun. World Cup players of course are allowed to enter training camp later, but still, their vacation probably won't last more than 2 weeks.

TL;DR²: Everybody who claims that soccer players are not athletic/soft/etc. - you're wrong.