Eating and drinking in youth football: what the coach needs to know

A young player has to eat to train and to grow at the same time. How much to drink, what to eat before and after the match, why children suffer more in the heat and why they don't need supplements, according to FIFA's nutrition guide.

Linkalde · 2026-10-20

In youth football, food and drink are almost always left to the families. But the coach sees things that aren't seen at home: the player who turns up to training without having had a snack, the one with no bottle, or the one who fades halfway through the second half. FIFA's nutrition guide for football points out that many youth coaches take the job without knowing young players' needs, and that it helps to have some basics to pass on good habits.

A child is not a small adult, not even at the table

• They regulate temperature less well. The way the body cools itself is less efficient in children, so watch the heat, the kit, the type of effort and hydration.
• They eat for two reasons. Growth needs energy, protein and minerals, and training burns more on top of that. A very active young player can struggle to get enough of everything.
• Little and often beats big portions. To get plenty of energy, FIFA recommends spreading the day over 5 to 9 meals and snacks rather than making plates bigger.
• No supplements. Young players who eat a varied diet don't need them. Supplements are not a shortcut to success.

Lots of kids want to «bulk up» fast to look like the adult players. Growth and maturation are set by genetics: good nutrition helps make the most of them, but it doesn't speed them up.

Drinking: 2% as the limit

There's no need to drink everything that is lost through sweat, but FIFA sets a clear limit: fluid loss during exercise should not exceed 2% of body weight. For the usual weights in academy football, that works out like this:

How to find out how much each player sweats

With older players you can run a simple test in a demanding session. Weigh them barefoot and in light clothing before they start and again when they finish, dry and within the next 10 minutes. Note down what they have drunk.

Guidelines for training and matches

1. Every player with their own bottle, not shared, for hygiene.
2. The day before the match, drink well with meals to arrive hydrated.
3. In hot weather, about 500 ml in the hour or hour and a half before the match, so there's time to go to the toilet.
4. If they are going to sweat a lot and there will be few chances to drink, 300 to 600 ml in the 15 minutes before. Less for small players.
5. Drinks breaks planned by the coach, more often the harder the exercise and the hotter it is. Use the warm-up and rest periods too.
6. Don't overdo it either: drinking more than you sweat makes you gain weight during exercise.
7. Nothing new on match day. Just like with new boots, new drinks and foods are tried out first in training.

What to eat around the match

Carbohydrates (bread, rice, pasta, cereals, fruit) are football's main fuel, and they get used up quickly. A player running on empty covers less ground in the second half, decides worse and is more likely to get injured. Protein and fat, on the other hand, don't need to be increased in the days before the match.

At professional clubs it's usual to offer something to eat at the end. In youth football you can do something similar on a small scale: each player brings a snack for after the match, or the families take turns bringing fruit and sandwiches.

Watch out for too many matches

The FIFA guide warns that some young players play for several teams and pile up a huge number of matches a year: cases of 100 or more are known. Besides physical tiredness, this means a heavy psychological load. Parents, teachers and coaches must be aware of the risk and work together.