From Grasroots to Greatness: Inside FC Porto Academy with Filipe Castro

What sets Porto football academy apart from the other academies you know?

Our academy is made up of various departments: analysis, performance, goalkeeping, individual development, medical, nutrition, and finally human resources. All departments work with the player in mind and the focus is always on optimizing the player. Before the season starts, we always set medium- and long-term objectives.

For example, in the analysis department, we have access to the best programs for obtaining access to matches and we work according to the coach’s requests (e.g., set pieces, offensive and defensive transition, offensive and defensive organization). The people are highly specialized, so they can work with the different software and be an asset to the coach. Even when planning a training unit, we systematically use the tactical iPad.

In the performance department, it works a little differently. We have meetings before pre-season to plan the season. The main objective is to set performance targets for our players. For example, we talk about the various physical tests, we discuss the results, we talk about the players’ progress and we also clarify some methodologies, such as the players’ potentiation before and after training. We also have monthly meetings to check on the players’ performance and whether they are close to achieving their goals. There are also projection players and non-projection players. We talk about injured players and also those who represent our national teams. Training plans are always tailored to each player as a way of individualizing the physical quality that each one needs. For each player, regardless of their biological stage, we draw up a kind of optimal profile to try and achieve the desired goal. We also have a large database of all the players so that we can check the status of each player as they progress through the ranks. Throughout their training, we readjust the objectives depending on their progress. At the end of the season, we meet again to reflect on the season with the aim of improving and perfecting each year.

In the goalkeeping department, the players also have objectives to fulfill from their coordinators. They are constantly reworking reports and observing future goalkeeping talent. Sometimes, as a strategy, they go to tournaments just to see if there are any goalkeepers who could join our club later on. When goalkeepers are let go or loaned out, we take care to accompany them through their training process. The connection of a dismissed goalkeeper is rarely lost. It’s important to note that even though he is a goalkeeper, he has objectives to achieve within the performance center (e.g., reaction speed work and optometric tests).

In the individual development (ID) department, the work is extremely important in terms of perception (i.e., individual analysis of moments in the game) and optimization in terms of passing, receiving, crossing, and finishing. We plan medium-term objectives for each player. In each training unit, we establish a 15-minute training session as a way of maximizing each player’s needs. If we feel that the player has progressed towards an established objective in a game situation, we move on to the next level. This refers to daily work and can be done individually or sector by sector.

As far as the medical department is concerned, it is clearly synchronized with the entire coaching staff. After each training session, the technical team receives a report on the training cases. Depending on what the players report and the assessments made, they then follow a set of suggestions for the next day’s training prescription. It’s important to note that it’s often important to manage loads taking into account the competitive period of the season.

The nutrition department is one of the areas that sometimes goes unnoticed but is merely important in the players’ daily lives. Nutritionists work daily in pre-training, post-training, and on match day. Meals and supplements are made according to the player’s training load. There’s a very strong connection with me, so we can see if the player needs to increase his muscle mass, if he needs to increase the doses of macronutrients or if he needs more recovery time. On pre-match, match day, and post-match, we make sure to check the color of the urine and weigh the player to detect levels of dehydration. There are weekly and monthly reports on the players’ progress. In special seasons (e.g., pre-seasons, festive seasons, Ramadan, transition seasons), training is given to players as a way of improving and understanding the benefits of nutrition and supplementation in modern football.

Finally, and very simply, the human resources team manages the players’ calendars and routines. They work according to the plans for the season, dedicate their time to the long weeks that a season requires and also work on the player’s image.

 In many countries, the football season for young athletes ends in late July, and the new season starts already in June. Is such a short break sufficient for young athletes’ physical and mental recovery? What is the situation in Portugal?

In Portugal there are various contexts regarding the end dates of seasons. For example, teams in the U19, U17 (i.e., only those playing in the maintenance phase) and U15 who are playing in the maintenance and championship qualifying phases of the national championship end their season at the end of May and beginning of June. For those who are in the national U17 championship but are only playing in the championship qualifying phase, it’s a different story. In this case, you arrive in May and stop completely because of the U17 European Championship (e.g., my case) and resume depending on the performance of your country’s national team (e.g., Portugal). If the team doesn’t make it past the group stage, the competition (i.e., champion) resumes at the beginning of June. If the team does well (i.e., semi-finals or final), the phase to be played doesn’t resume until mid-June for the final 3 games. This whole approach to the end of competitions is extremely important in order to clarify the question posed. By this I mean that all levels, with the exception of the U17 who are playing in the championship qualifying round, can take up to a month’s holiday. There’s another level that I haven’t mentioned because it’s an even more extreme case: the U23 (i.e., Revelation League). These can take up to a month’s holiday or even more. This is due to the fact that few teams in Portugal play in the Revelation League.

That said, the off-season phase is super important for these youngsters to break away from football mentally and physically. Mentally, this phase should be spent with family and friends, doing completely different activities to football, and not thinking about football at all. The seasons are getting longer and our bodies really need to reset.

The off-season, in my opinion, should be a three-week break to help you recover mentally and physically. I suggest that in the first week the young person dedicates themselves to the holidays, doing other activities (e.g., jogging). In the second week, the first continuous runs should begin. Studies show that in well-trained athletes, Vo2 losses are not significant for up to one week. In the third week, it is suggested that you train the physical qualities that the game requires on the pitch and in the gym, but within the evolutionary process. We mustn’t forget that the off-season is a period of rest and a short time to maintain the minimum physical qualities. It’s also important to note that it’s not in the off-season that you’ll improve your strength or endurance levels, except for players coming back from injury. Finally, the mental component is one of the most important in a sporting context. Taking a break of up to three weeks is the best way to help restore a player’s mental state.

How important is it for the football coach to trust the methods of the strength and conditioning coach? How should their teamwork ideally be structured?

When a coach takes over a sporting context, we should assume that the technical team is in the image of the head coach (i.e., 100% trust). When putting together your coaching team, they should all be on the same page regarding the process. In each coaching team, there should be a qualified professional for each area to be developed (e.g., individual player development, goalkeeper coach). There should be systematic pre-training and post-training meetings for tasks to be divided up and for reflection on the training unit or something to be clarified. The more organised a coaching team is, the better the message it sends to the squad. Nowadays, players are aware of everything, even the most suspicious glance.

Depending on the context, it can be difficult to keep an eye on everything and there’s nothing like being cautious. Nowadays in certain teams, there are a huge number of departments within the club, sometimes with more than 100 people working. It becomes very complicated in terms of trust for the leader. Still, even with your fitness coach, ideas can clash with those of the structure. A practical example is what a player should or shouldn’t do in the gym on the days leading up to a match. Physical qualities in modern football are increasingly in vogue in players. Football is getting faster and faster, with increasingly intense action and a high number of sprints, longer distances at high intensity, and there are more and more accelerations and decelerations in play. So, it’s up to the modern coach to rely on his fitness coach in order to maximise the potential of his players. With training methodologies evolving at an incredible rate, the leader must listen to what the fitness coach concludes from each training session. With the various tools that exist (e.g., force platforms, Gps, photocells) there are an unlimited number of variables that occur in each training unit. Even with the values of the subjective scales that are collected in pre-training, the leader must have the sensitivity to change them if necessary for the good of the team or player.

In the same way that coaches need to be modern and up-to-date, the same applies to fitness trainers. It is suggested that they are constantly in training, that they achieve good academic standards and that they are also in the field of research. Doing research and interpreting methodologies is fundamental to the training and preparation of a weekly microcycle.

Instead of a conclusion – Portuguese football players are known for their ball-handling proficiency and great technique. Is that enough to be successful in today’s football, where athleticism is becoming increasingly important?

In this day and age, mastering gaming skills is super important. However, that’s not enough. This vision should also apply to youth football. In Portugal, for example, we see lots of players stagnating at the age of 16. This is the result of a lack of holistic vision. In many organizations, technique is seen as the solution to most problems. Those responsible for these structures should realize that technique on the pitch (i.e., technical gesture) is one thing, but technique or the quality of movement acquired during the maturation process is another. Both are completely different and are worked on in functional contexts.

Another problem to highlight is the lack of vision on the part of those in charge. There is a lot of literature, for example, on the importance of a player with good strength levels as well as good cardiovascular levels. Athletes with better strength levels, for example, will suffer less metabolic damage and can recover more quickly between sessions. The same goes for cardiovascular issues. Athletes with better oxygen levels will be able to sprint more times in a row. Similarly, athletes who have good explosive strength values will be able to run faster. Even so, there is a positive correlation between squat load values and acceleration moments.

As for fatigue, we want it to be delayed in relation to the length of the game (i.e., after 65 minutes). The literature has been clear that at the end of each half of a football match, the likelihood of injury increases significantly. For this reason alone, it makes perfect sense for players to do strength training. Coaches always want the best, most complete players. If the literature is clear on physical qualities, why don’t academies develop them?

Another aspect to mention is the difference between an athlete being strong in the gym and being strong in match skills (i.e., changing direction and jumping vertically). Physical trainers aren’t interested in a player pushing a 100kg load. Although it’s a multi-joint movement, it ends up being very restricted and transfers little to the game. You can clearly be very strong in a barbell squat, but not very strong in changing direction. The exercises should therefore have a real transfer to the sport. The same idea applies to speed work with elastic bands, but in the opposite direction. There are a lot of players in training who are extremely fast, but in the gym they find it very difficult to produce force horizontally. It’s all about balance and training culture.

Personally, I’ve been abroad to countries like England, Qatar, Greece, and Spain. Clearly, the training culture is completely different from Portugal. In those countries, strength and conditioning are seen as a must from a young age. They look at talented youngsters, but then end up developing them and meeting the needs of each individual. These are extremely developed countries that have a very futuristic vision that I think is very well realized.

In conclusion, the technique can’t be seen as a problem-solver, but rather as another tool to help the player in case of need.