Could most elite soccer players easily run a sub-20 5k?

Easily.

15:00... That is going to be much more impressive for a soccer player. You carry more muscle to move laterally and naturally need some fast twitch so the 5k will suffer.

Definitely. I'm not one who believes the whole "soccer players run the equivalent of seven marathons over the course of a match, and could easily beat Bolt in a 100m and Farah in a 10,000" idea that some seem to buy into, but a 20 minute 5K is pretty much a given for just about anyone who gets paid to play soccer.

Most of them could do it, but it wouldn't be easy. Also a lot of the defenders wouldn't be able to do it.

20, yeah. Probably 17:50-18:30 mins for the fastest of them unless they have some running backround or a lot of running talent.

20 might be hard for some of the older guys that don't run as much. 6:26 mile pace for 20 mins is a long time.

A sub 20 5k is not that hard. I'd guess most, if not all professional soccer players could easily do it. The lighter guys could probably break 19. I'm not sure about the women, sub-25 perhaps?

-Depend on size & position.

-Guy like Neymar, Messi, Ibra, Ronaldo could easily break 17 5k

-Ronaldo & Neymar could prob break 16 5k

Played soccer all my life & transitioned to track during high school - ran 4:18

Other Ex (Cerake Gebrekidane) (Grant Fisher)

BamBamCam wrote:

...Played soccer all my life & transitioned to track during high school - ran 4:18

Other Ex (Cerake Gebrekidane) (Grant Fisher)

This part ^ is not really relevant.

I know HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS who come out for cross their first season and run under 20. We're talking the best players in the world's most popular sport, many of which are on peds. Guaranteed there's a fair number which could break 15 minutes right off the field.

Whoa whoa wrote:

I know HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS who come out for cross their first season and run under 20. We're talking the best players in the world's most popular sport, many of which are on peds. Guaranteed there's a fair number which could break 15 minutes right off the field.

Not a chance a single one could break 15.

Not one.

I'm always amazed about the overestimation of soccer players distance running abilities. I've tested hundreds of professional players. Not the highest leaque but they are still considered professionals and have no job besides playing.

The best players I'v ever tested could run in the 18:00 min region. Considering a squad of 25-30 players, then maybe 3 would run between 18:00- 19:00, 5 between 19:00- 20:00, 10 between 20:00-21:00, and the rest including goalkeppers up to 23-24 min.

Mostly they hate distance running.

copa mundial wrote:

I'm always amazed about the overestimation of soccer players distance running abilities. I've tested hundreds of professional players. Not the highest leaque but they are still considered professionals and have no job besides playing.

The best players I'v ever tested could run in the 18:00 min region. Considering a squad of 25-30 players, then maybe 3 would run between 18:00- 19:00, 5 between 19:00- 20:00, 10 between 20:00-21:00, and the rest including goalkeppers up to 23-24 min.

Mostly they hate distance running.

+1

Kevin Keegan England's most famous player of the 70s ran the first Great North Run in 1981. Over the years some have claimed he ran as fast as 1:15 or so. He actually ran 1:26:23 and he was one of the fittest players.

Of course they can!

I know that it's hard to admit, as a runner, that other sports have talented athletes as well. Obviously they would get their butts kicked by serious runners, but they could run way under 20:00.

In high school I did a season where I played soccer, and would show up to XC meets on the weekends. My first race I ran 17:5x WITH NO SPECIFIC XC PRACTICE. Only light soccer conditioning. Clearly I have some natural talent, but surely many soccer players have talent for running but didn't realize it. Also I'm sure pro soccer players do way more conditioning than a high school team.

Not easily wrote:

Most of them could do it, but it wouldn't be easy. Also a lot of the defenders wouldn't be able to do it.

The defenders would be among the fastest. It's the attackers (and goal keepers of course) that have terrible endurance.

You won't believe acutal fitness level of professional soccer players until you have seen test results with your own eyes. There a pros you have less athletic abilities than high school kids. They have shit endurance, shit speed, shit mobility. Of course they now how to handle a ball and are able to read a game and have a lot of self confidence. Some of the best players had the worst test results ever.

A lot in soccer depends on your managment, on your marketing ability, former clubs and of course on specific soccer skills. I know a lot of players, playing in national teams who were smokers during their careers. Of course fitness levels are changing to the better but there's still a lot of bullshit training and conditioning going on.

Most players would have troubles breaking 20 miin with soccer specific training. Of course if they would specialise in running we would see faster times. But why would they?

Football players are sprinters. They train for very short, sharp bursts of acceleration and rarely sprint more than 20-30m at a time. It's all about power and getting up to speed quickly. Think of all the times the ball is out of play too, a lot of rest, they very very rarely have to run a hard effort for more than 30 seconds (a break away for example). The top guys like Ronaldo, Robben, Bale et al could probably run a very good 800m (these guys can seriously sprint) but they would absolutely hate running hard for 5km, they're power athletes, not endurance runners.

Guys like David Beckham had a decent school XC background but he wasn't quick or had the acceleration of Ronaldo, it's a different type of muscle fibre, fast-twitch, slow-twitch. The vast majority of Football/Soccer players are fast twitch. They are fabulous athletes and incredible sprinters and getting up to speed but 5k runners they are not. Of course a few could run a good 5km time but the vast majority would hate every second of it. Heck, Iwan Thomas (world class 400m runner) absolutely sucked at 5km+ (he ran a few half marathons and stuff a few years after retiring from world class 400m running) and he would smoke the top Soccer guys over 400m-800m but their muscle fibres are designed for power and acceleration.

Yes, definitely. With one exception: the goalkeepers obviously. The other players should be looking for a time like 15:xx except some heavier players, like tall defenders maybe or older players. But under 20 easily, they run a lot.

52.43 wrote:

Yes, definitely. With one exception: the goalkeepers obviously. The other players should be looking for a time like 15:xx except some heavier players, like tall defenders maybe or older players. But under 20 easily, they run a lot.

I don't agree. Goalkeepers also run a lot. And jumps around. In training it's like a 2 hours long run every day. They should easily get under 20 too.

They can't even stay on their feet for 20 minutes, how are they gonna run a 5k?

BamBamCam wrote:

-Depend on size & position.

-Guy like Neymar, Messi, Ibra, Ronaldo could easily break 17 5k

-Ronaldo & Neymar could prob break 16 5k

Played soccer all my life & transitioned to track during high school - ran 4:18

Other Ex (Cerake Gebrekidane) (Grant Fisher)

Not so sure about Ibra. He´s carrying around 100 kg of muscles, and his role isn´t to run all over the court during a match.