The Shift Away from 90 Minutes
As the 2026/27 Premier League campaign approaches its August 21 kickoff, football fans may notice an unusual trend: top-flight clubs are increasingly abandoning the traditional 90-minute friendly match format. From 60-minute bouts to 45-minute mini-tournaments, the fixture lists of elite English sides now feature a variety of unconventional durations designed to address specific athletic performance goals.
Liverpool recently scheduled two separate games against Como, while other teams, including Nottingham Forest and Crystal Palace, have participated in triangular tournaments featuring 45-minute segments. According to performance experts, these formats are not mere gimmicks but calculated strategies to manage player workload during a condensed six-week pre-season.
The Physiology of Pre-Season Loads
The primary challenge for medical and performance staff is achieving balanced squad fitness without over-exerting players or leaving non-starters behind. Glen Driscoll, a former performance analyst at clubs including Liverpool and Leicester City, notes that traditional 90-minute matches often create a divide between the starting XI and the rest of the squad.
“The closer you get to the season, the more you universally create a divide between the players you’re preparing to start and everybody else,” Driscoll explains. By utilizing shorter or split-format games, managers can ensure that a wider pool of players receives high-intensity match experience. This approach acknowledges the reality of the modern game, where the implementation of five substitutions has shifted the focus from having 11 players ready for 90 minutes to having 16–20 players capable of playing high-intensity 60-minute blocks.
Balancing Intensity and Volume
Huddersfield Town’s head of medical and performance, Anton McElhone, emphasizes that pre-season is “all in the numbers.” Players aim to cover 30–35km per week in the early stages, gradually transitioning from training drills to match-like intensity. While a 45-minute game accounts for only five to six kilometers of distance, the psychological and physical intensity differs significantly from standard training sessions.
These varied formats allow clubs to rotate entire squads halfway through a 120-minute block, as seen in Leicester and Bristol Rovers’ mid-July match, which was split into four 30-minute quarters. This ensures that two distinct starting XIs receive equal and controlled game time. Ultimately, as experts suggest, there is no single “textbook” way to prepare, and clubs prioritize flexibility to ensure their rosters are ready for the rigors of the competitive season, rather than peaking too early in July.