The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of static, dynamic, and the combination of static and dynamic stretching within a pre-exercise warm-up on the Illinois agility test (IAT) in soccer players. Nineteen professional soccer players (age = 22.5 ± 2.5 years, height = 1.79 ± 0.003 m, body mass = 74.8 ± 10.9 kg) were tested for agility performance using the IAT after different warm-up protocols consisting of static, dynamic, combined stretching, and no stretching. The players were subgrouped into less and more experienced players (5.12 ± 0.83 and 8.18 ± 1.16 years, respectively). There were significant decreases in agility time after no stretching, among no stretching vs. static stretching; after dynamic stretching, among static vs. dynamic stretching; and after dynamic stretching, among dynamic vs. combined stretching during warm-ups for the agility: mean ± SD data were 14.18 ± 0.66 seconds (no stretch), 14.90 ± 0.38 seconds (static), 13.95 ± 0.32 seconds (dynamic), and 14.50 ± 0.35 seconds (combined). There was significant difference between less and more experienced players after no stretching and dynamic stretching. There was significant decrease in agility time following dynamic stretching vs. static stretching in both less and more experienced players. Static stretching does not appear to be detrimental to agility performance when combined with dynamic warm-up for professional soccer players. However, dynamic stretching during the warm-up was most effective as preparation for agility performance. The data from this study suggest that more experienced players demonstrate better agility skills due to years of training and playing soccer.

Despite the success of the FIFA 11+ programme in preventing injury, convincing coaches and players to do these exercises is diffi cult only in order to prevent injury, unless the programme can be shown to have a positive and direct impact on the performance. Th is study aims to investigate the eff ect of the FIFA 11+ programme on vertical jump performance in male elite-youth soccer players. Twenty-four male soccer players (mean ± SD: age = 16.79 ± 1.18 years, height = 174.17 ± 8.12 cm, mass = 62.45 ± 10.01 kg, experience = 6.96 ± 1.26 years) participated in this study and were randomly divided equally into two groups, FIFA 11+ and control. Th e experimental group performed the FIFA 11+ programme three times per week for eight weeks whereas the control group just performed their regular warm-up programme. Th e mixed-repeated measures ANOVA showed that there was a signifi cant improvement in the vertical jump performance between groups in post-test (P=0.002) while no signifi cant improvement was found between groups aft er 1-month of stopping the FIFA 11+ programme (P=0.076). It can be concluded that performing the eight-week FIFA 11+ programme can enhance the jump height in male elite youth soccer players. It seems that the FIFA 11+ programme could be incorporated into regular soccer practice as a warm-up programme instead of a conventional warm-up programme. However, due to the failure to maintain the long-term eff ectiveness of the FIFA 11+ programme on the jump height of soccer players, the continuation of performing this programme is necessary.

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Context: There is no evidence regarding the effect of the FIFA 11+ on landing kinematics in male soccer players, and few studies exist regarding the evaluating progress of interventions based on the initial biomechanical profile. Objective: To investigate the effect of the FIFA 11+ program on landing patterns in soccer players classified as at low or high risk for noncontact anterior cruciate ligament injuries. Design: Randomized controlled trial. Setting: Field-based functional movement screening performed at the soccer field. Participants: A total of 24 elite male youth soccer players participated in this study. Intervention: The intervention group performed the FIFA 11+ program 3 times per week for 8 weeks, whereas the control group performed their regular warm-up program. Main Outcome Measures: Before and after the intervention, all participants were assessed for landing mechanics using the Landing Error Scoring System. Pretraining Landing Error Scoring System scores were used to determine risk groups. Results: The FIFA 11+ group had greater improvement than the control group in terms of improving the landing pattern; there was a significant intergroup difference (F1,20 = 28.86, P < .001, ). Soccer players categorized as being at high risk displayed greater improvement from the FIFA 11+ program than those at low risk (P = .03). However, there was no significant difference in the proportion of risk category following the routine warm-up program (P = 1.000). Conclusions: The present study provides evidence of the usefulness of the FIFA 11+ program for reducing risk factors associated with noncontact anterior cruciate ligament injuries. The authors’ results also suggest that soccer players with the higher risk profile would benefit more than those with lower risk profiles and that targeting them may improve the efficacy of the FIFA 11+ program.