What is it about?
This article reviews the scientific evidence on whether specific coordination training can improve performance in young football players. Football requires much more than running fast or kicking the ball well. Young players need to coordinate their body movements, react to changing situations, control the ball, maintain balance, and adapt quickly to the demands of the game. Because of this, coordination may be an important foundation for both technical development and overall performance. The review analysed studies involving young football players aged 6 to 18 years who completed training programmes specifically designed to improve coordination. The included studies assessed outcomes such as motor coordination, balance, agility and football-related technical skills. Overall, the findings suggest that coordination-focused training can have positive effects on young players, particularly in areas related to movement control, technical ability and agility.
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Why is it important?
Youth football training often gives strong attention to physical fitness, tactics and technical drills. However, coordination is a key part of how young players learn to move efficiently, respond to the game environment and perform football skills with greater control. This review highlights that coordination training should not be seen as an isolated or secondary component of training. Instead, it can be integrated into football practice as a way to support skill acquisition, movement quality and long-term athletic development. The article is also important because it shows that more consistent research methods are needed. The studies reviewed used different training protocols and assessment tools, making it difficult to compare results directly. Better standardization would help coaches, researchers and practitioners understand which types of coordination training are most effective, for whom, and at which stages of development.
Perspectives
For coaches, this review supports the inclusion of structured coordination exercises in youth football training, especially when the aim is to improve movement control, agility and technical performance. For clubs and academies, the findings suggest that coordination work may be particularly valuable during childhood and adolescence, when players are still developing fundamental motor skills and adapting to more complex game demands. For researchers, the review identifies the need for more high-quality intervention studies, with clearer training descriptions, standardized assessment protocols and longer follow-up periods. For parents and young athletes, the message is simple: developing coordination is not only about becoming more skilful in football, but also about learning to move better, adapt faster and build a stronger foundation for future performance.
Professor Marco Branco
Sport Science School of Rio Maior, Polytechnic Institute of Santarém
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Effect of specific coordination training on the performance of young football players: a systematic review, Retos, May 2026, Federacion Espanola de Asociaciones de Docentes de Educacion Fisica (FEADEF),
DOI: 10.47197/retos.v81.116996.
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