Team Performance: How do you measure it?

Performance tests for every football (soccer) team

As a trainer you want to improve team performance. Technical and physical performance is crucial. You want to assess your players and track progress over time. Professional teams use test batteries with expensive hardware and sensors to assess things like sprint speed, dribble quality and stamina. Mingle Sport is developing a bunch of features that allow every football coach or player to test technical and physical skills. No additional hardware required, just your phone, some cones and a field.

In this blog we explain the tests in detail and how performance is measured. Some tests you can do manually with a stopwatch if you want to get started yourself.

The Mingle Sport performance tests are currently in beta. Apply for our Performance Program to get access for your team. Beta users will have free access for the 24/25 season. Click here to access our performance features.

5 physical and technical player performance tests

Our sport- and data scientists have developed 5 performance tests. Like for professionals, they’re based on sport scientific research. With the Mingle app they’re easy to do and even fun.

For a team of around 20 players the total amount of time required excluding the stamina test is around 50 minutes. You need cones, a well charged phone and someone who gives the instructions. Often this is the trainer, but can be several people. You can do these tests individually.

Shot Quality: shot accuracy and speed

For this test you need an official size football goal and let the player take a shot from 11 meters. No goalkeeper allowed. Players need to shoot as fast as the can, but also try to get as close to the corners of the goal. With this test we measure shot speed and accuracy. The upper corners are considered as 100% accurate whereas straight through the middle is 0% accurate.

💡 *Shot Quality is currently available in the Mingle Sport app as a beta (IOS only). You can do a Mini Game and see for yourself how it works.*

Illinois agility test

Illinois agility test

The Illinois Agility Test is a physical fitness assessment that measures an athlete's agility, or ability to change direction quickly and accurately. It involves sprinting and maneuvering through a set course marked by cones arranged in a specific layout: athletes must weave through the cones in a zigzag pattern as fast as possible. The test evaluates speed, coordination, and body control.

To set up the Illinois Agility Test, follow these steps:

1. Set the Course Dimensions: Mark out a rectangular area that’s 10 meters long and 5 meters wide.

2. Place Cones:

   • Position 4 cones at each corner of the rectangle to mark the start, end, and outer boundaries.

   • Place an additional 4 cones down the center of the rectangle, spaced 3.3 meters apart in a straight line.

     

     

3. Starting Position: The athlete begins in a lying position with their hands by their shoulders at the starting cone.

4. Running Path:

   • At the start signal, the athlete sprints to the first center cone and weaves in and out of the central cones in a zigzag pattern.

   • After completing the center cones, they sprint back to the finish line.

The time taken to complete the course is recorded, with shorter times indicating higher agility.

Repeat the test while dribbling the ball. Adding the ball to the test, will tell you something about your ball control. A shorter time to complete the parkour indicates better ball control.

Sprint test: acceleration and top speed

Sprinting faster than your opponent can make a big difference. So tracking progress over time and benchmarking it is crucial for coaches and players. Using this test you will get the maximum sprinting speed and acceleration with just a single sprint!

This test is a 30m sprint along the line. In which the time of the first 10m will indicate your acceleration speed and the time between the 20-30m your top speed.

For the setup you need 4 cones and a measuring tape / measuring app. Place the first cone at 0.5 m, the second at 10.5m, the third at 20.5m and the last at 30.5m.

Film the sprint. Use a video program which allows you to note down the milliseconds. For each player note down as accurate as possible when the player passes each cone.

Acceleration speed (km/h) = ( 10 / ( time at cone 2 – time at cone 1 ) ) * 3.6

Max sprinting speed (km/h) = ( 10 / ( time at cone 4 – time at cone3 ) ) * 3.6

Vertical jump: measure leg power

The maximum explosive power your leg muscles can generate influences how fast you can accelerate, decelerate and change direction on the field. An easy way to measure this power is via a standing vertical jump, in which you aim to jump as high as possible. However, the time you spend in the air is too short to measure with a stopwatch. Thus, keep an eye out for our new app feature that is coming soon that will allow you to assess your explosive power!

We’ll measure this jump with video on a high frames per second to get as accurate results as possible. Your leg power can then be calculated by the following formula that was evaluated by Canavan & Vescovi (2004):

Power (Watt) = 61.9 * jump height (cm) + (36.0 * body mass (in kg) )- 1822

SOURCE: CANAVAN & VESCOVI

Intermittent Yo-Yo: test your stamina

There are a wide variety of endurance tests available. But we prefer using the standardised yo-yo intermittent recovery test LVL 1, as it was especially developed for intermittent sports such as football (soccer). This test requires a bit more set-up than the previous ones. Pick a large free space on the field (at least 25m). For each player that is going to participate you need 3 cones. We find it easiest to use the middle line of the field and one side line as a starting point to place the cones (see picture). Place the 1st cone on a line. Place the 2nd cone 5m from the first cone. Lastly, place the 3rd cone 20m from the 2nd cone. Repeat this for each player.There are plenty of version on Youtube for the soundtrack, click here to access our used version.The test works as follows:

1. All players start at the middle cone.

2. When the beep sounds, run to the farthest cone (20m) and back to the middle cone. A second softer beep will then be played to as a warning to indicate that they should be about halfway (so at the the furthest cone). Again a loud beep will sound. Players need to be back at the middle cone before this beep is played. Not all soundtracks provide the warning beep inbetween, but the link shared earlier does.

3. Players have returned at the middle cone when the beep sounds, they will now walk to the shorter cone (5m) and back, as a recovery period.

4. Players are at the middle cone again and the whole process is repeated. Players will continue running until they can not make it to the middle cone in time twice (first time is a warning). The level is announced in the soundtrack. Note down the level of the last succesfully completed level.

Note: it is important that all players can hear the soundtrack while running. It might be handy to bring a small speaker.

Click here to find the corresponding speeds and level characteristics of the test.

Are you curious how well you performed? For adults you can use the following benchmarks created by Topend Sports:

We are working on creating benchmarks for age specific groups (e.g. 30-40 years) and youth.

Men:

Women:

Tip! Track progress over time

It’s great to do these tests in the beginning of the season so you can track progress over time. If you want to track progress over the course of a longer time, we recommend to repeat them at least every 7-10 weeks. At Mingle Sport we’re working on a desktop app where you can get all the insights you want in graphs and tables. And benchmark results to learn how you or your team is performing.

If you want to get access to these performance features, please apply here for the Performance Program.