Diploma in Football Periodisation 2.0

Stop applying a model. Start developing your team.

Do not simply follow a periodisation model. Understand the football principles behind it. Design training that develops the team and players based on what they need, why and when. Plan and improve your training week cycle from a football development perspective, guided by what you have observed in their last match.

In 2014, the foundational book The Original Guide to Football Periodisation was published by Raymond Verheijen. Many coaches worldwide still consider this their bible for planning their training week cycle. Since the publication of this groundbreaking book, football has continued to evolve, and so has our understanding of football periodisation.

Football Periodisation 2.0 is the next step
It is a complete reworking of the original concept, built on years of practical experience and critical evaluation. In this online course, Raymond Verheijen will present Football Periodisation 2.0, with new insights and principles developed since his introduction of football periodisation. More importantly, the course challenges coaches to rethink one of the most important responsibilities they have: how to organise training to accelerate team and player development.

Football Periodisation 2.0 is not simply an updated version of the original guide. This online course will present an evolution of the way coaches can think and decide about football periodisation.

Football Periodisation 2.0: Accelerate Team & Player Development

Many coaches plan weekly schedules around intensive and light sessions, competition peaks and recovery, often using periodisation models based on scientific parameters and non-contextual jargon, turning periodisation into a fixed schedule rather than a flexible coaching process. Although periodisation has historically been associated with fitness, football is not a competition against a stopwatch or physiology. Players compete against unpredictable opponents. That is why football periodisation is not simply about distributing training minutes, running distance, sprints or heart rate. It is about periodising the development of attacking and defending.

Football Periodisation 2.0 puts the coach in control
Football Periodisation is about the periodisation of the tactical development of the team, as well as the periodisation of the game insight, technique and fitness development of individual players. The football coach is responsible for this development process. It starts with what coaches do best: observe, analyse and evaluate team and player performance in matches to identify areas for improvement. The coach then selects the right stimuli, decides when to apply them and recognises when players need time to recover and adapt.

The coach designs training situations around the objective, pitch size, number of players, rules, coaching and players’ decisions under pressure. Scientific knowledge remains essential—but as a means, not the starting point, of football development. It helps coaches plan balanced work-rest ratios and prevent overtraining and injuries. Football Periodisation 2.0 teaches you how to push your players’ football boundaries without increasing injury risk, helping you to play with your strongest team more often. However, as no two teams, players or competitive situations are the same, there can be no one-size-fits-all solution.

Structuring chaos and complexity
Some people consider football periodisation impossible in complex environments and during match congestion. In reality, the opposite is true as coaches are more vulnerable to planning the wrong training at the wrong time in these situations. Some may overemphasise post-match recovery at the expense of pre-match preparation, leaving players unprepared. Others prioritise pre-match preparation while neglecting post-match recovery, leaving players fatigued. Either way, accumulated fatigue will reduce training quality and match performance, while increasing injury risk.

Although finding the right balance is extremely challenging, Football Periodisation 2.0 provides the solution. It helps coaches anticipate complex external factors by focusing on training designs that are still possible rather than being distracted by what is not. Football periodisation is not about 100% or nothing as a perfectly periodised week does not exist. Achieving 40% of the ideal scenario is still 40% more compared to coaches who consider football periodisation impossible in complex or match-congested environments.

What will you learn?

During the Football Periodisation 2.0 online course, you will learn how to:

• Understand the underlying principles of football periodisation rather than simply applying a periodisation model.
• Understand the difference between football development and training load.
• Plan and improve your training week cycle from a football development perspective.
• Adapt the training week cycle based on your analysis of your team and players in the last match(es).
• Decide what your team and players need to train, when to train it and why.
• Design tactical training, game insight training, technique training and fitness training.
• Decide better about planning overload, underload, recovery and freshness.
• Use scientific knowledge to push the football boundaries of players without increasing the injury risk and to play with your strongest team more often.
• Plan pre-season, in-season and off-season training programs.
• Deal with return from injury and congested fixture periods.
• Apply football periodisation principles in professional, youth and amateur football.

The objective is not to give you another rigid schedule to follow. This online course will give you the knowledge and principles to make better coaching decisions.

Who is this course for?

Football Periodisation 2.0 is for coaches who want to improve the way they plan, design and evaluate training. The course is relevant to coaches working in:

• Professional and amateur football
• Academy and grassroots football
• Adult and youth football

It is for coaches who are new to periodisation and for those who are already using periodisation models but want to move beyond simply following a weekly schedule. Whether you work with professional players, amateur players or youth players, the principles of football periodisation can help you make better decisions about your training week cycle based on the needs of your team and players.

Learn directly from Raymond Verheijen

Football Periodisation 2.0 is delivered by Raymond Verheijen, one of the pioneers of football periodisation and author of The Original Guide to Football Periodisation. His expertise is built on decades of applying, critically evaluating and evolving football periodisation at the highest and broadest levels of the game. Raymond has worked with FC Barcelona, Manchester City, Chelsea and the Feyenoord Youth Academy, as well as at four FIFA World Cups and four UEFA European Championships. He has also applied the concept with Dutch amateur teams that went on to win four national titles.

From elite and international football to youth and amateur teams, these experiences have allowed Raymond to continuously challenge and improve the original concept across different environments, cultures and player levels. Now, he presents the next evolution: Football Periodisation 2.0. This online course gives you the unique opportunity to learn directly from the person who developed the original concept. Not another model that works only on paper, but a proven approach to better plan the development of your team and players.

Take the next step in your coaching development.

Football is constantly evolving. This online course is a unique opportunity for your understanding of football periodisation to evolve with it. Do not simply follow a periodisation model. Learn how to plan and improve your training week cycle based on what your team actually needs rather than solely relying on what the theory tells you to do.

Course Schedule

The Football Periodisation 2.0 online course is structured across eight modules. Each month focuses on a fundamental part of team and player development and its connection to training design and periodisation.

October 1, 2026: What Is (Not) Football?
– Football is a constraint-led sport
– Football characteristics constraining football (inter)actions
– Football actions are unconscious interactions with game situations
– Football actions are non-linear interactions with game situations

November 1, 2026: What Is (Not) Football Training?
– How to simplify 11v11 at team and player level
– Guidelines to design training situations
– Guidelines to develop methodological steps in training

December 1, 2026: Tactical Training: Design, Methodology & Periodisation
– Team intentions & tactical principles
– Guidelines to design tactical training
– Methodological steps within tactical training

January 1, 2027: Game Insight Training: Design, Methodology & Periodisation
– Individual intentions & game insight principles
– Guidelines to design game insight training
– Methodological steps within game insight training

February 1, 2027: Technique Training: Design, Methodology & Periodisation
– Technique principles for position, moment, direction & speed
– Guidelines to design technique training
– Methodological steps within technique training

March 1, 2027: Fitness Training: Design, Methodology & Periodisation
– Fitness characteristics & fitness principles
– Guidelines to design fitness training
– Methodological steps within fitness training

April 1, 2027: Training Week Cycle: Planning & Adjusting
– Principles for designing training week cycle
– Designing training week cycle with 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 sessions per week
– Training week cycles for professional, amateur and youth teams

May 1, 2027: Long-Term Player Development Periodisation
– Age 6-9: Technique foundation phase
– Age 9-12: Game insight foundation phase
– Age 12-14: Tactical foundation phase
– Age 14-16: Fitness foundation phase
– Age 16-19: Performance phase

Join Raymond Verheijen for Football Periodisation 2.0 and become part of the next generation of football periodisation.

Diploma In Football Periodisation 2.0

Understand it. Apply it. Evaluate it. Evolve it.