In football, no top manager or player survives the rigor of the whole season without the help of a fitness coach. Behind every elite athlete who succeeds in his or her chosen field, there is a brilliant snarling trainer ticking the boxes.
Fitness coaches challenge players (team) by increasing their performance, as compared to when a player would train on their own.
They also teach new workouts routine, improve their physical condition, and help increase their full performance; improve form, technique, skills, and diet plan to stay healthy throughout the season.
Best fitness coaches in football
- Gregory Dupont – (Real Madrid’s Fitness Coach)
Dupont is well known for his hobby of researching training methods everywhere he has been, ‘The Scientist’ as many refer to him, joined Zinedine Zidane’s backroom staff when the former Real Madrid legend lost faith in his former fitness trainer Antonio Pintus, having failed to improve the fitness level of the players.
Dupont was called from the French national team by Zizuo to join Real Madrid, it was a way of recognizing his work and influence on Les Blues winning the World Cup despite only joining the French team before the tournament.
The UEFA member for injury prevention is also well known for his obsessing over data around nutrition, preventing injury, particularly to those that are caused by fatigue.
Dupont is a very shy person, he likes to remain in the shadows of others to avoid the media, but he can’t shy away from his work as a fitness coach because stating the importance of data in going about his work is very vital.
The former Les Blue trainer was also part of the team that discovered players, who are six times more likely to be injured when they played matches less than 72 hours apart.
Dupont’s know-how and brilliance came to the fore when Real Madrid won the league last season, with players like Benzema, Casemiro, 34-year-old Ramos and others staying fully fit post lockdown sums up why he’s been called McGregor, as the team went on to clinch the title at the expense of Barcelona.
- Oscar Ortega – (Atletico Madrid’s Fitness Coach)
Oscar Ortega ‘El Profe’ is a 62-year-old Uruguayan fitness coach, he’s been very instrumental in all of Los Rojiblanco’s success since Diego Simeone took over as coach in 2011.
Ortega has been a very loyal servant to El Cholo, dating back to when he was at Racing Club de Avellaneda, in Argentina. Although they’ve met before back in 2004 when Ortega was the fitness coach of Atletico Madrid and Simeone was a player during the reign of Manzano.
Atletico Madrid’s style of play and rugged nature on and off the ball depicts the kind of fitness training they go through in training.
And the man responsible for Los Rojiblanco’s fitness, playing predominantly without the ball and being able to play or break opponents with fierce energy when the chance arises is no other than El Profe who makes the team last a whole demanding season.
Ortega’s background as a fitness trainer is so extensive, having worked in Mexico, Japan, and Colombia, before starting to work in Spain at the turn of the century first with Sevilla and now with Atletico Madrid.
His training session is so dreaded that players often called his summer camping a living hell on earth, which cumulated into the physical strengths of the players and often shows in each of their games.
Under El Profe’s training method, the Atletico players have been able to maintain their fitness, even during the lockdown he monitored them closely in other to return to the pitch fully fit.
In pre-season, the players spent time usually in Segovia where he used to put the players through 14-hour days of running, running, and more running with just a few breaks for meals in between, a rigorous routine which shows how much emphasis Simeone and Ortega put in the fitness training of his players.
Even at 62, the Uruguayan trainer is as fit as a fiddle, reason why he doesn’t allow laziness. His players suffer few muscle injuries, as such he leads by example even among his comrades.
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- Antonio Pintus – (Inter Milan’s Fitness Coach)
Pintus returns to Italy, where he had already worked with Juventus and Palermo before moving to Real Madrid in 2016. He had also worked at Chelsea, Monaco, West Ham United, and Marseille, before eventually returning to Italy with Inter Milan having left Real Madrid in 2018.
The former Real Madrid trainer is considered one of the best fitness coaches in football, and his past work with Los Blancos can testify to that.
He joined the Nerazzurri officially having terminated his contract by mutual consent with Real Madrid in 2018, to yet again return to his familiar terrain. Since he joined Conte’s staff he’s been working tirelessly with the players, helping them avoid muscular injury and fatigue.
According to Pintus “For me and Antonio Conte, strength is a very important aspect, I don’t follow trends and I agree with the coach to achieve goals you have to train well”.
This statement is a testament to how much he pays more attention to the well-being of the players he manages during the training session.
Pintus was also instrumental in helping Lukaku’s fitness level and other players in the team. He also makes sure they’re more improved fitness-wise, and the player’s weight and body fat levels are also been thoroughly worked on, all thanks to him and the team nutritionist Matteo Pincella.
- Javier Minano – (Valencia’s Fitness Coach)
Minano is a veteran fitness coach, he’s been around for a very long time in football, and his three decades of experience make him one of the most skilled trainers in Spanish football likewise Europe.
The veteran trainer is so vast that he has worked with the likes of Vicente Del Bosque many years, Rafael Benitez, and Toni Grande, amongst others.
The former Armenia national team fitness coach has been away from Spanish football for a while now, having worked with La Furia Rojas the Spanish national team, and Racing Santander among other teams before returning in 2019.
Whilst the condition at the Mestalla may not be as interesting as the club used to be, due to their financial constraint, nevertheless that hasn’t discouraged Minano in preparing the team for the rigor of the 2020-21 season.
With him in town, the use of technology and big data to analyze the fitness level of every player should be easy.
- Holger Broich – (Bayern Munich’s Fitness Coach)
Broich is regarded as the secret boss behind the success of the Bavarian giant, he takes care of the fitness of the Bayern stars in close consultation with the head coach Hansi Flick, who has so far been the darling of all Bayern fans since he got the job.
The 45-year-old trainer also holds the title of Scientific Director and Head of Fitness at the club since 2014.
Professor Broich’s fitness session is so grueling that sometimes, the players usually felt like running away from training, his regime has always made them super fit in other to annihilate their opponent on the pitch with their ruthless attacking and pressing style.
Broich is also said to know exactly how the corona outbreak affects the player’s bodies and how to prepare them perfectly fit for games.
A lot of adulation has been showered at Bayern Munich for their intensity in prosecuting matches, all thanks to Broich. Even during the break due to the pandemic, Broich was still very much close to the players in other to stay fit, delivering to their homes bikes used in conducting the now-famous cyber training sessions via video from the club headquarters.
Among the players who were impressed with the kind of plans Prof Broich and his staff used in keeping the players fit during the lockdown was Boateng, which in the end led to the Bavarian giant winning a treble last season.
- Victor Lafuente – (Granada’s Fitness Coach)
Lafuente was appointed as the fitness trainer of Granada in the 2018-19 season as a member of Diego Martinez’s coaching staff, as such his appointment proved instrumental in the club’s promotion to the Spanish topflight.
In terms of financial muscles, the Andalusian side doesn’t come close to some of the Spanish big teams. However, since their promotion to the top flight, they’ve been able to restructure the team all thanks to their Chinese owner Jian Lizhang who arrived at the club in 2016.
The Andalusian outfit is currently active in UEFA’s second-tier competition, without much injury recorded, because last season they registered the best injury record in the professional ranks of the Spanish game.
But surprisingly with the appointment of Lafuente, throughout the last campaign, they only recorded just five muscular injuries, and that was down to the local muscle vibration treatment which was introduced into the club’s fitness session by Victor Lafuente, a pioneer, and visionary fitness expert.
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- Darren Burgess – (Melbourne FC Fitness Coach)
Following the 2018 injury rampaging Melbourne FC in Australia, former Port Adelaide, Liverpool, and Arsenal fitness guru joined the ‘Demons’ in 2019.
The Demons had endured a torrid year on the injury table, with over 15 players going under the knife after the 2018 season, a very strange occurrence that raised a lot of eyebrows from the club management and fans on how competent the fitness department of the club is.
The Demon’s swift decision of replacing Misson with Burgess proved to be the right decision in the right direction, as the fitness guru has helped the players to stay fit.
Melbourne FC management’s decision to appoint him was down to his know-how, and his stint in the English premier league that comes with years of experience. It was easy to contact him as the next fitness trainer of the club despite a lot of applications for the post.
Burgess may not currently be with some of Europe’s elite clubs, but the guru is well-revered as one of the finest fitness coaches in world football.
According to the report, since he joined the Demons he’s been able to turn the fortune of the players around in terms of managing their fitness level and conditioning.
Honourable Mention
- Dani Pastor – (Real Mallorca’s Fitness Coach)
- Sergi Perez – (Osasuna’s Fitness Coach)
- Florian Wangler – (Borussia Dortmund’s Fitness Coach)
