International tournaments present one of the most challenging environments in elite football. Players arrive from different clubs. With vastly different workloads, varying levels of match fitness, and limited preparation time. The role of the performance staff is to bring those athletes together, manage their physical condition, and ensure every player is ready when called upon.
For Belgium’s team performance department, athlete monitoring is a key tool in achieving that balance. Having used STATSports throughout multiple international tournaments, GPS data now underpins decisions around training loads, recovery, rehabilitation and squad management.
Balancing Performance and Recovery
One of the biggest challenges during tournament preparation is the wide variation in player readiness.
While some players arrive having completed long domestic seasons with heavy match exposure, others have played very little in the weeks leading into camp.
Rather than applying the same program to every player, the performance staff individualise workloads based on each athletes recent training history and physical condition.
Bram Gielen, Physical Coach, explains:
“Players are already at the end of the season. They’ve played so many games. on the other side we have players who didn’t play or didn’t play a lot, so those are the guys we have to make sure are physically ready. So its finding the balance between performance and recovery”.
Players with high match minutes often require carefully managed recovery, while those with limited game time receive additional running or conditioning work to ensure they reach the required physical level before competition begins.
This approach allows staff to maximise physical readiness across the entire squad rather than treating every player the same.
Supporting Return to Play Mid-Tournament
In every major tournament, injuries become an inevitable challenge.
Whether recovering from a knock during the season or sustaining an injury during the competition itself, performance staff are often working against the clock to return players safely.
Live GPS data provides objective feedback throughout the rehabilitation process, allowing practitioners to monitor workloads session by session and make informed decisions as players progress back towards full training so rather than relying purely on observation, coaches can measure exactly what the player has completed before deciding how to progress the following day’s work.
“If you have live data, it really helps the physio or the S&C coach to step by step follow up the players. how they are doing & get them ready for the moment that’s needed”.
The ability to review session outputs immediately also allow staff to adapt subsequent training loads, ensuring rehabilitation progresses at the right pace without exposing players to unnecessary risk.
Benchmarking Against Previous Tournaments
Having worked with STATSports since preparations for the 2018 World Cup, the performance demands associated with each training session.
Experience means practitioners can often predict the expected outputs for metrics such as high speed running, accelerations and decelerations. However, objective data remains essential to validate those expectations and quickly identify when a session produces unexpected results.
Arne Jaspers, Sports Scientist continues:
“After a couple of years, you know what each session is going to bring in terms of high speed, running, accelerations, decelerations, but every now and then there’s an outlier. So we want to be sure about that”.
By comparing each session against established benchmarks, the performance team can quickly identify when workloads are higher or lower than planned and understand the reasons behind those variations.
Whether it is an unexpected increase in high speed running, additional accelerations and decelerations, or a player experiencing a different physical demand profile, reliable data helps provide the context needed to make informed decisions around recovery, training adjustments, and future preparation.
Connecting Club and National Team
Unlike club football, national team staff have only limited time with players. That makes communication with clubs and the ability to consolidate performance information. B
efore players arrive in camp, the performance department works closely with club performance staff, and where appropriate, private coaches to understand each player’s recent training exposure and physical status.
“We know quite well what they are doing at club level, what they are used to. We try to manage it, bring all the information together and try to individualize the program within the national team as good as possible”.
This information forms the basis of an individualised programme that aligns physical objectives with the tactical priorities set by the coaching staff and by combining objective workload data with coaching objectives, staff can build sessions that prepare players for competition while respecting the work already completed throughout the season.
Belgium are in the fortunate position to have many of their domestic clubs using STATSports already – for example Club Brugge have 3 players in the squad (Brandon Mechele, Joaquin Seys & Hans Vanaken) and will be able to share data easily between staff both before the start of the tournament and at the end when players return to the club.
Keeping Every Player Match Ready
Tournament success depends on more than just the starting eleven. Players outside the matchday lineup must remain physically prepared in case they are called upon at any stage of the competition.
Performance staff closely monitor players receiving fewer match minutes, prescribing additional running, strength work, or individual sessions to maintain fitness levels throughout the tournament.
Whether through supplementary field work, gym based training, or friendly fixtures, GPS data helps ensure these players continue receiving the physical stimulus required to remain match ready.
Gielen continues:
“We know it’s very important to keep players who are on the bench fit and healthy and we know that they are important to be ready to play”.
By managing workloads across the full squad, not just those starting matches, the performance team ensures every player is prepared to contribute when the moment arrives.
This approach allows coaches to maintain the physical readiness of the entire playing group, ensuring that players who may have had limited game time remain prepared for increased demands when opportunities arise.
Through consistent monitoring and targeted training adjustments, the team can balance maintaining fitness, building match readiness, and managing fatigue across the squad.
Preparing Every Player for Tournament Football
Success at international tournaments is built on careful planning, collaboration, and informed decision making.
From balancing recovery after demanding club seasons to managing rehabilitation and maintaining squad wide readiness, objective athlete monitoring gives the practitioners the confidence to individualise preparation at every stage.
With accurate GPS data supporting every session, performance staff can optimise workloads, minimise unnecessary risk, and ensure players are physically prepared to perform when it matters most.
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