What’s the Best Way to Test Acceleration in Soccer Players?

Why Acceleration Matters More Than Top Speed

In soccer, you don’t often see players hit max velocity for 40m or more. What wins duels, creates space, and changes games is the first 5–20 metres. That’s acceleration.

• Beating a defender to the ball.

• Closing down space before an opponent can pass.

• Creating separation for a shot or cross.

That’s why testing acceleration is often more valuable for coaches than testing pure top speed. The question is: how do you test it accurately?

The Old Methods (and Their Problems)

Stopwatch

Quick and easy, but unreliable. Human error is ±0.2–0.3s. If you’re looking for a 0.05–0.10s improvement in a 10m sprint, the stopwatch can’t detect it.

Lasers

More accurate than stopwatches, but beams can be tripped by arms, knees, or even players warming up too close to the gate. Setup takes time, and results aren’t always repeatable.

GPS trackers

Clubs sometimes use GPS vests to track sprint metrics in games and training. They’re great for volume and load monitoring, but they’re not as precise for split distances like 5m, 10m, 20m.

So while all of these can give some info, they’re not always consistent enough for acceleration testing.

What You Actually Want to Measure

A good acceleration test in soccer should give you:

• 5m split → first step explosiveness.

• 10m split → ability to reach speed quickly.

• 20m sprint → game-relevant top-end acceleration.

Repeatability matters more than “perfect” accuracy. You want to know if Player A is faster this month than last month, and by how much.

A Practical Testing Setup

Most coaches now use portable electronic systems that measure the athlete at the waist (center of mass) rather than relying on hand timing or beams. Why? Because:

• It’s consistent across athletes and sessions.

• Start, 5m, 10m, 20m can all be marked with transmitters.

• Data is logged automatically, so coaches aren’t juggling stopwatches.

• Athletes can even self-test in small groups.

This balances accuracy with practicality — reliable numbers without the chaos.

How Coaches Apply It

• Pro clubs → Use acceleration testing in pre-season and mid-season check-ins.

• Academies → Build player speed profiles (accel, top speed, RSA).

• Grassroots coaches → Use simple 10m and 20m tests to track whether training is working.

The key is not the brand of the system — it’s the consistency of the method.

Final Thoughts

So what’s the best way to test acceleration in soccer players?

• Stopwatches are inconsistent.

• Lasers can misfire.

• GPS is good for load, not split precision.

• A simple, repeatable system that times at the body (not the hand or beam) is the practical choice.

At the end of the day, soccer acceleration testing doesn’t need to look like a science lab. It needs to give you numbers players can trust and coaches can act on.