Carbs are the most efficient fuel for energy production. They are stored as glycogen in your muscles and liver which means that your body will not consume them directly.

That’s why proper soccer nutrition should contain a lot of carbs; you need to store energy in order to use it later.

Your muscles will get most of their energy from your glycogen stores. It is crucial to have enough glycogen in your muscles and liver in order to feel good.

Otherwise you will soon or later start to feel fatigue, your concentration will decrease and your body will not recover properly.

Frequent Meals

In order to meet your body’s carbs needs you should try to eat frequent small meals that are rich of carbs.

But, you need to keep in mind that not all carbs are good for your body. In fact, there are many different types of carbs that have different breaking down rate.

This means the time your body needs to break down what you are eating into glycogen and store it in your liver and muscles. One common word for this is glycemic index or GI as many people prefer to call it.

GI is a table that refers to the speed at which the carbs are released into your bloodstream. A high GI indicates a quick break down and lower GI indicates a slower break down.

Wrong Type of Carbs

Eating wrong carbs in wrong time will directly impact on your performance on the soccer field.

For example, if you are playing a late afternoon match you should try to eat a big meal of slow carbs 4-5 hours before the start of your game.

However, if you are playing an early morning match you need to eat food with high GI rating. Pregame glycogen storage is crucial for your performance.

As a soccer player you will spend a lot of time running up and down the field. This will place a big drain on your glycogen stores.

Generally, the players that have more glycogen in their muscles and liver will have an advantage on their opponents.

To achieve high glycogen levels, you need to constantly consume a lot of carbs and fluids.

Don’t worry if this doesn’t make sense at first – over time, you’ll add carbs and feel even better on the field.

Sometimes there’s an introductory period where your body has to catch up. Trust me, it will and you’ll be glad that you added in these extra carbs in no time!

What You Should Eat

So, what carbs should you eat? Well, my personal favorite is pasta with mincemeat sauce 4-5 hours before a game.

Here in Sweden, mincemeat sauce with pasta is the most popular meal among soccer players. You should also try to eat fruits bread, potatoes, and rice.

These carbs are moderately slow and it is therefore important to consume those 4-5 hours before the start of your game.

In order to get an immediate energy boost I like to eat raisins. If I play my game early in the morning I like to eat some muesli with milk and a lot of raisins as breakfast.

In order to find your own favorite mix of slow and fast carbs I recommend you to check out this GI table for more ideas.

Summary

The importance of carbs cannot be overemphasized enough. Simply, without enough carbs you can’t expect to perform well, it’s not more difficult than that.

Having good soccer skills is crucial. However, you will not come any far if you can’t boost your body with enough fuel.

This is similar to owning a Ferrari but not be able to provide it with fuel 🙂 So, if you thought that playing soccer is just about being able to handle the ball well, then you were wrong.