How to become a professional footballer?

whiteboy

What do you reckon, do you have to be born with it, is it a God-given talent, does it take years of training as a kid?

As an early twenty somethng I can't help wish I had the same skills as Ciaran Clark, James McCarthy, Chris Herd and Andy Carroll who have lives far more fun than mine no doubt!

TeddyTedson

I defiantly think you can learn it. I remember hearing of a school in Holland who would train people as professional footballers. Anyone hear this before.
They weren't guaranteeing you'd be the next Messi but said that you be able to be professional.
I know a professional footballer and he was always really good at football but probably not the best I ever played with but the only one who made it pro

heavyballs

having played with some pro's who made it,some are still playing in the premiership my opinion is this
out of the lads on my team who actually made it the one who has been the most sucessfull(Stephen Carr)was defo not as skilfull as the rest of us

he WAS the fittest by some way,when he was about 13 the chap had a beard and natural muscle the rest of us didn't have

if i had a group of kids i would stick them on the bleep test at around age13-15,the one who can finish it would be the one i would send to England,i wouldn't totally ignore skill etc,that would be silly but imo pace and stamina is 75% of pro football nowadays

heavyballs

TeddyTedson wrote: »

I defiantly think you can learn it. I remember hearing of a school in Holland who would train people as professional footballers. Anyone hear this before.
They weren't guaranteeing you'd be the next Messi but said that you be able to be professional.
I know a professional footballer and he was always really good at football but probably not the best I ever played with but the only one who made it pro

yes they had a football school in Holland but it actually wasn't as sucessful as they thought it would,

Dolph Starbeam

You need a lot of skill and a lot of luck. I know one lad playing LOI that i went to school with and even though he'd have been very good during school days i could easily name 5 others as good or better than him who haven't gone on to do anything and are playing Sunday League football.

If you really want some inspiration look and Stephen Hunt, not a whole lot of skill but works his bloody socks off and is making a very good go of it.

mikemac

I reckon most here will know some neighbour or lad on our team who went for trials in the UK.
I know a lad when went for trials with Blackburn, didn't work out. A few months later offered trials with Wolves and he didn't go and he didn't seem to care either

He was also a pisshead, always drinking. He had a chance and didn't care. Kinda sad to see tbh
It's not all about talent, there are lots of people with potential. But you have to be willing to work at it and do the work that others shirk from.

So yes OP, hard work will get you very far and that goes for everything, not just professional football

Sure Kevin Keegan was rejected by several clubs, even mighty Doncaster.
And kept at it and eventually got picked up by Scunthorpe. The rest they say is history.....

Theresalwaysone

Talent is MASSIVELY overrated.

Hard work and determination are what lazy people call talent.

Being born in the first 3 months of the year helps also.

Yakult

Dedication and determination. With that you build up the essential attributes needed.

Blatter

There was a thread on this a couple of months ago.


Special talent = Start playing very young + have good coaches + practice hours and hours a day IMO.

It is not necessary to be very athletic, but it sure can help.

~Rebel~

Natural ability certainly helps, but as with everything, application is key. 10000 hours is somewhat recognised to be what is required to put into whatever you're doing to be reaching the very top level ('Outliers' by Malcolm Gladwell).

Years and years of solid dedication are the rock on which a top level career is built. From here, natural ability and stature are the final ingredients that differentiate where in that top 1% you fall.

cson

SOCCER4LIFE wrote: »

It is not necessary to be very athletic, but it sure can help.

I disagree; unless you have serious talent [think Messi] then the only way you'll make it is by being very athletic.

Blatter

~Rebel~ wrote: »

Natural ability certainly helps, but as with everything, application is key. 10000 hours is somewhat recognised to be what is required to put into whatever you're doing to be reaching the very top level ('Outliers' by Malcolm Gladwell).

Years and years of solid dedication are the rock on which a top level career is built. From here, natural ability and stature are the final ingredients that differentiate where in that top 1% you fall.

Define natural ability.

Those who become the best ala Messi and Ronaldo, work notoriously hard compared to lesser players to become the players they are today. They also had good coaches as kids. They were both born extremely athletic but that dosn't = natural ability IMO as many people are born like this.

It's the same with any other sport, the ones who start the youngest and train the hardest(with good coaches,practice dosen't make perfect, perfect practice makes perfect) will become the best.

Helix

cson wrote: »

I disagree; unless you have serious talent [think Messi] then the only way you'll make it is by being very athletic.

Andy reid?

cson

Helix wrote: »

Andy reid?

Andy Reid has serious talent :P

digme

SOCCER4LIFE wrote: »

Define natural ability.

Those who become the best ala Messi and Ronaldo, work notoriously hard compared to lesser players to become the players they are today. They also had good coaches as kids. They were both born extremely athletic but that dosn't = natural ability IMO as many people are born like this.

It's the same with any other sport, the ones who start the youngest and train the hardest(with good coaches,practice dosen't make perfect, perfect practice makes perfect) will become the best.

natural ability means they don't have to train as hard.

Paully D

Have a lot of natural talent and a huge amount of luck.

Blatter

cson wrote: »

I disagree; unless you have serious talent [think Messi] then the only way you'll make it is by being very athletic.

Suffice to say I disagree because this ''talent'' dosen't exist . It's romantic to think that people are born to be footballers but it's not true IMO.

David Beckham being an example of this. Wasn't blessed with good athleticism yet it was a well known fact he trained harder than 99% of other footballers. He developed his passing, shooting, crossing, vision etc. He made an excellent career for himself winning pretty much the lot at club football and has an excellent personal international record.

If Beckham had been much more athletic, he would have been up their with the greats IMO.

Theresalwaysone

Natural ability is by and large a fallacy. Or at the very least, massively massively overrated.

Its a crutch lazy, non hard working people use to comfort themselves. If by natural ability you mean, mental strength and determination then yeah I can see merit on that front.

The person who said 'Natural ability means they dont have to train as hard" is clearly delusional.

Big Pussy Bonpensiero

Of course natural ability has a very big role to play. Sure if it didn't, Kuyt would be twice the player of Ibrahimovic. Anyways, there was a far better thread about this a few weeks ago, not much point discussing it again so soon.

Seaneh

SOCCER4LIFE wrote: »

Suffice to say I disagree because this ''talent'' dosen't exist . It's romantic to think that people are born to be footballers but it's not true IMO.

David Beckham being an example of this. Wasn't blessed with good athleticism yet it was a well known fact he trained harder than 99% of other footballers. He developed his passing, shooting, crossing, vision etc. He made an excellent career for himself winning pretty much the lot at club football and has an excellent personal international record.

If Beckham had been much more athletic, he would have been up their with the greats IMO.

When Beckham joined Milan on loan, well into his 30's, the doctors and physios at Milan Lab said he had 'the sort of natural athletic ability needed to play until he was 40'.

While at United and England he was routinely the only player able to finish the bleep test.

bennyc

Theresalwaysone wrote: »

Being born in the first 3 months of the year helps also.

Plus one on this in order to stand out in emerging talent squads.
Attitude also has to be 100% and I have seen a lot of kids who were brilliant but with terrible attitudes, I reckon nobody would want to deal with them at the next level.

dyl10

Natural ability is of course important.
If you go to any of the top schoolboy clubs around these days, you'll have teams of players who train like horses trying to make it, and the number of players getting contracts in England is still going down.

In truth you want ability, determination and some luck. Although, if you manage to excel extremely in any of those three you can still do it.

Pauleta

mental aptitude

dagdha

I think if you put in enough training that you could get yourself physically into the right shape to be a pro, you might not reach the highest level but a pro all the same. I think if you get to a stage where you are fit and strong enough you could play maybe a midfield role alot easier than say a winger or a forward. If you are able to get around the pitch and show determination to win the ball back you might have more of a chance but to be a more creative type player it would take alot more. I think some of the great players are born with some natural ability and through dedication and hardwork they can get to the top of the game. The video below of Messi when he was 6/7 goes to show that at that age he had something special that he did'nt acquire through years of training at an early age.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bS6nS8W0bOU

Seaneh

in answer to the OP.

Some players get picked up for natural ability.
Players like Cassano, Prilo, Inzaghi, Messi, Iniesta, Raul, Guti, De La Penya, Gazza, Matt Le T, Del Piero, Maradonna, Robinho, Ronaldinho, Damien Duff, Eden Hazard, Scholes, etc, etc, etc...

There players aren't natural athletes, but their ability outweighed their athletic short commings. They have skills/talents that make them naturally good for their positions.

Then you have Micha Richards, Samuel, Drogba, C. Ronaldo, Dzeko, Lillian Thuram, Nial Quinn, Aly Cissoko, Elikobi, etc, etc, etc...
Players who are physical
freaks, who's natural physical attributes give them a massive head start be they Height, strength, stamina, speed, acceleration, etc...


Then you have players who are a blend of both.
Players with natural ability and freaking physical attributes.
Ibrahimovic, Alves, Ronaldo, Zidane, Redondo, Roy Keane, Vidic, Essien, Fabregas, Torress, De Rossi, Netsa, Lucio, Kaka, Giggs, schweinstiger, Viera, Pazzini, Evra, Kevin Prince Boatang, David Luiz, Hulk, Lisandro Lopez, Di Maria, Villa, Pato, Sergio Ramos, Valencia, etc, etc, etc...

And then you have the others.
The ones how don't have freakish athletic ability nor natural talent but work their balls off and make it as a pro.
O'Shea, Gattauso, Puyol, Mekellele, Hunt, Doyle, Meyer, Fletcher, Upson, Cattermole, Senna, etc...


The third lot have the best chance of making it... The first and second have a good head start if they get the right coaching/luck


the last lot have to work like dogs for it...

Liam O

Seaneh wrote: »

in answer to the OP.

Some players get picked up for natural ability.
Players like Cassano, Prilo, Inzaghi, Messi, Iniesta, Raul, Guti, De La Penya, Gazza, Matt Le T, Del Piero, Maradonna, Robinho, Ronaldinho, Damien Duff, Eden Hazard, Scholes, etc, etc, etc...

There players aren't natural athletes, but their ability outweighed their athletic short commings. They have skills/talents that make them naturally good for their positions.

Then you have Micha Richards, Samuel, Drogba, C. Ronaldo, Dzeko, Lillian Thuram, Nial Quinn, Aly Cissoko, Elikobi, etc, etc, etc...
Players who are physical
freaks, who's natural physical attributes give them a massive head start be they Height, strength, stamina, speed, acceleration, etc...


Then you have players who are a blend of both.
Players with natural ability and freaking physical attributes.
Ibrahimovic, Alves, Ronaldo, Zidane, Redondo, Roy Keane, Vidic, Essien, Fabregas, Torress, De Rossi, Netsa, Lucio, Kaka, Giggs, schweinstiger, Viera, Pazzini, Evra, Kevin Prince Boatang, David Luiz, Hulk, Lisandro Lopez, Di Maria, Villa, Pato, Sergio Ramos, Valencia, etc, etc, etc...

And then you have the others.
The ones how don't have freakish athletic ability nor natural talent but work their balls off and make it as a pro.
O'Shea, Gattauso, Puyol, Mekellele, Hunt, Doyle, Meyer, Fletcher, Upson, Cattermole, Senna, etc...


The third lot have the best chance of making it... The first and second have a good head start if they get the right coaching/luck


the last lot have to work like dogs for it...

I doubt anyone can say Ronaldo had freakish physical attributes when he joined United He's just the type of kid who grew up with a ball at his feet and realised the ways he can manipulate it. He put (and still does put) in a ridiculous amount of effort in training and this is where he got his leg up.

Seaneh

Liam O wrote: »

I doubt anyone can say Ronaldo had freakish physical attributes when he joined United He's just the type of kid who grew up with a ball at his feet and realised the ways he can manipulate it. He put (and still does put) in a ridiculous amount of effort in training and this is where he got his leg up.

So he isn't one of the fastest players in the world over 30 yards? And he doesn't have a naturally lean and strong physique? even as a teenager he was toned like a swimmer, he just 'grew out' as he got older.

Blatter

Seaneh wrote: »

When Beckham joined Milan on loan, well into his 30's, the doctors and physios at Milan Lab said he had 'the sort of natural athletic ability needed to play until he was 40'.

While at United and England he was routinely the only player able to finish the bleep test.

I meant athleticism in terms of speed, acceleration, flexibility, mobility etc.

Beckham would have been one of the fittest footballers in the game, but again, this is down to hard work, commitment and dedication.

Blatter

THFC wrote: »

Of course natural ability has a very big role to play. Sure if it didn't, Kuyt would be twice the player of Ibrahimovic. Anyways, there was a far better thread about this a few weeks ago, not much point discussing it again so soon.

It's easy to say that, but the fact is that you don't know

1) How good Kuyt's coaches were when he was young
2) What age he started kicking a ball
3) How many hours a day he spent practicing
4) How intense his training was when he was younger

Until you know all this information relative to Ibrahimovic, you can't make a judgement like that.


You need all of the above to be maximised to become a superstar IMO. And how good you become will depend on what position you play relative to your athleticism.

Seaneh

according to team mates at Ajax, Juve and Milan Ibrahimovic is the hardest trainer they played with. He gets there early and trains harder than anyone else. He also does Taekwando several times a week and runs all the time.

He's a total athlete.

Blatter

Seaneh wrote: »

So he isn't one of the fastest players in the world over 30 yards? And he doesn't have a naturally lean and strong physique? even as a teenager he was toned like a swimmer, he just 'grew out' as he got older.

No man Ronaldo has been hitting the weights hard since he joined Utd, that type of muscle does not come naturally as you flesh out.

--amadeus--

SOCCER4LIFE wrote: »

Those who become the best ala Messi and Ronaldo, work notoriously hard compared to lesser players to become the players they are today. They also had good coaches as kids. They were both born extremely athletic but that dosn't = natural ability IMO as many people are born like this.

Now would that be the Messi who was born with a congenital growth hormone deficiency that required (relatively) expensive medical treatment as a child :rolleyes:

Anyone who thinks that if you train like a pro you can make it as a pro is delusional. What is the point of being able to make a 40 yard break into the box if you airkick the ball? Not much gain in having the height and strength to outjump the defence if the ball just bounces aimlessly off your head... And don't you think that EPL chairmen would have rumbled this by now? "Wait a minute - rather than paying these lads £100k a week we can just grab some blokes off the street, work them like dogs in the gym and they'll be just as good"!

You can guarantee that top level players are frighteningly fit - some more than others, but thats genetics. And if you want to stand out at a trial you need to be very fit and athletic. But that just brings you to the same level as everyone else - they will *all* be fit and athletic; what makes you stand out is the talent. The ability to control and pass a ball, to spot runs and space, be aware of the players around you. Even the very best coaches cannot coach in what nature left out.

ctrl-alt-delete

dagdha wrote: »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bS6nS8W0bOU

Fu*king Gloryhunter :mad:

Blatter

--amadeus-- wrote: »

Now would that be the Messi who was born with a congenital growth hormone deficiency that required (relatively) expensive medical treatment as a child :rolleyes:

By athleticism for Messi, I mean center of gravity, acceleration, speed, mobility, flexibility etc. And Messi may not be tall but he is strong and uses it well.

Athleticism; physical strength and the ability to do sports and physical exercises well

--amadeus-- wrote: »

Anyone who thinks that if you train like a pro you can make it as a pro is delusional. What is the point of being able to make a 40 yard break into the box if you airkick the ball? Not much gain in having the height and strength to outjump the defence if the ball just bounces aimlessly off your head... And don't you think that EPL chairmen would have rumbled this by now? "Wait a minute - rather than paying these lads £100k a week we can just grab some blokes off the street, work them like dogs in the gym and they'll be just as good"!

This is awfully wrong.

First of all you are working from a narrower definition of athleticism than I am, see above.

Secondly if you read my earlier posts, I made it abundantly clear that to make it, you must start playing young and be coached well so your line about taking people of the street is ridiculous.

--amadeus-- wrote: »

You can guarantee that top level players are frighteningly fit - some more than others, but thats genetics. And if you want to stand out at a trial you need to be very fit and athletic. But that just brings you to the same level as everyone else - they will *all* be fit and athletic;

At a trial, players will have different degrees of fitness and athleticism. The athleticism is largely genetics but how fit you are depends on how hard you train.

--amadeus-- wrote: »

what makes you stand out is the talent. The ability to control and pass a ball, to spot runs and space, be aware of the players around you.

I agree, it does make them stand out.

But that talent is developed from training exceptionally hard from a young age and having good coaches.

--amadeus-- wrote: »

Even the very best coaches cannot coach in what nature left out.

So it's just a massive coincidence that Brazil people possess the so many ''talented'' people.

Nothing got to do with the fact that they are the country with the biggest population who's children play football for the longest hours a day due to poverty?

Nothing to do with the fact that their youth and development coaches are amongst the best in the world?



Do you not see that the Brazilian, Argentinians etc have much more technical players(better passing, shooting, vision) than the English, who's children don't train as long in the day and who's youth and development coaches are not up to standard?

flahavaj

dagdha wrote: »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bS6nS8W0bOU

Its like watching Sensible Soccer but in real life, the ball is nearly as big as the players.:pac:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kL2T4Yn2Tq8

ctrl-alt-delete

flahavaj wrote: »

Its like watching Sensible Soccer but in real life, the ball is nearly as big as the players.:pac:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kL2T4Yn2Tq8

You've just reminded me to go back and play that!

Downloaded it and forgot about it!

Bodhisopha

A lot of people seem to confuse natural ability with aptitude.