The evolution of football imposes great demands on players, in particular in terms of their ability to cope with high exercise intensities with and without the ball and tolerate fatigue.

Managers more and more seek fast and skillful players who have a high capacity to perform repeated high-intensity exercise and can tolerate large weekly training and match loads.

Constraints of a busy match schedule impose challenges for coaches to conduct physical training during the season. However, periods of intensified training appear effective to enhance players’ ability to perform intermittent exercise at high intensities with only small doses of high-intensity interval training during the late preparation phase and competitive season.

Given the risk of overload and injuries, periods with intensified training should be carefully planned with consideration of the season plan, match schedule, and player load. Thus, the volume of low-to-moderate intensity training is substantially reduced during periods of intensified training.