Cognitive Athletic Training in Soccer : Training Strength, Endurance, Speed, Coordination, and Cognitive Abilities

This volume on Cognitive Athletic Training in Soccer tackles the question of which game and exercise forms can train cognitive abilities alongside athleticism and endurance of soccer players.

As the first book in the series ‘Cognitive Athletic Training,’ it stands out with its clear structure, divided into theoretical and practical parts. With essential theory provided in the first part, the practical section illustrates exercises and games with numerous photos and graphs, allowing easy understanding and implementation in a training routine. It provides advice and exercises to train athleticism, endurance, and cognitive abilities. Particular focus is on perception, creativity, anticipation, and attention, as well as physical abilities such as strength, endurance, speed, and coordination.

This volume will serve as a great reference for all soccer trainers and athletes seeking guidance on cognitive athletic training.

With a foreword by Dzsenifer Marozsán, a German soccer player who played for the national team from 2010 to 2023 and served as captain from 2016 to 2019, an Olympic gold medalist (2016), European champion (2013), and a six-time UEFA Women's Champions League winner (2015, 2017–2020, 2022). ‘The book "Cognitive Athletic Training in Soccer" combines scientifically based insights with practical training methods to specifically train cognitive and athletic abilities, taking performance in football to the next level’.

The translation from German was carried out with the help of artificial intelligence and subsequently reviewed by the authors for content accuracy.

Daniel Memmert is a Professor and Executive Head of the Institute of Exercise Training and Sport Informatics at the German Sport University Cologne. From 2009 to 2016, he was head at the Institute for Cognition and Sports Game Research at the German Sport University Cologne. In 2003, he received his PhD (award: dvs Young Scientist Award, bronze) and habilitated in 2008 at the Elite University of Heidelberg (award: DOSB Science Award, bronze). In 2014, he was a visiting professor at the University of Vienna. His scientific work focuses on movement science (cognition and motor function), sports psychology (attention and motivation), and computer science in sports (Big Data, pattern recognition and simulation). According to a publicly accessible database by Elsevier of the world's top 100,000 scientists, he ranks first in Germany in the field of "Sport Science" and in the World 8th in the field of "Sports Science/Experimental Psychology". He has an H-index of 67 (i10-index 247) and has raised more than 10 million Euros in third-party funding, including 9 DFG projects in the field of computer science and 5 DFG projects in the field of psychology. In addition, he has completed several research stays (e.g., USA, Canada), and has published more than 300 articles in international journals, 45 books, and 50 book chapters. From 2009 to 2013 he was executive director of asp (Association for Sport Psychology), from 2012 to 2016 he was editor of the Journal of Sport Science (behavioral science section), from 2016 to 2018 he was associate editor (psychology) for the journal Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, and from 2017 to 2021 for the Journal of Sport Psychology. At the moment, he is editor-in-chief for Journal of Applied Sport and Exercise Psychology and Associate Editor for International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology. He holds coaching licenses in the sports of soccer, tennis, snowboarding as well as alpine skiing and is editor and author of textbooks on modern soccer training. His institute cooperates/ed with various Bundesliga soccer teams, the German national soccer team and DAX companies and organizes the first international master's degree course in "Match Analysis".

Sebastian Schwab is a senior lecturer at the Institute of Exercise Training and Sport Informatics at the German Sports University Cologne. After completing his master's degree at the Institute for Sports and Sports Science at the University of Heidelberg in 2009, he went to DSHS Cologne as a PhD student. In 2013 he completed his PhD and has been working as a soccer lecturer ever since. He has been the coordinator of the Cologne Ball School since 2009 and since 2023 the program director of the certificate program "Sports Director in Youth Competitive and Amateur Soccer". In addition, the A-license holder is a coach at the Talent development project for the German Football Association in Cologne since 2016. Since 2021, he has also been the spokesperson of the Football Commission of the German Association for Sports Science (dvs).

Claudius Ludwig is the founder and CEO of the digital training platform CoTrainer, which allows clubs of all performance classes to digitize, organize, and efficiently analyze their entire training operation. With CoTrainer, coaches can plan their sessions in a structured way, manage training content and capture performance data, while players have the opportunity to train individually and work specifically on their development. The platform combines modern sports science with practical application and is used in both amateur and professional soccer. He is a graduate of the German Sports University Cologne and a licensed soccer and fitness coach. At the soccer club Cologne 11, he is founder, chairman, and coach.