Bene Schneiderbauer

How I Build My Teams I always liked the idea of ‘possession football’: - Control the game. - A tool to develop players. - The opponent can’t score without the ball. But I built it the wrong way: “Keep the ball. Find a gap to attack.” This turned into “side-to-side” passing.…

Football training isn't developing players to play better football — football training is developing better players by playing better football. A subtle but crucial difference.

There are two types of "tactical flexibility": Option A: Switch between different ideas depending on the opponent. Option B: Stick to one clear idea, and add more and more solutions within it. I prefer option B. Because it focuses on the game insight of the players rather than…

Vision is not something fixed. It develops bottom up based on principles (not randomly). Players apply them based on their strength, creativity, their teammates’ strengths, and the unique situation they face. Whatever happens, that is our identity.

A simple truth about training: If you do something often enough, you get better at it. So, if you want to get better at 5v5 (or whatever age/level you are at), then play 5v5. This should be your first thought. This is your main reference. Everything else is derived from there…

When your players struggle, you have two tools: 1. Help them push through. Help them solve this challenge. 2. Make the task easier. The first thought is to push through. This is what leads to growth. But if you overdo it, you risk injuries and overwhelm (→ Drop out). The…

When things don't work, go back to the fundamentals. When things work, stick to the fundamentals.

Simple Football. I used to think that to improve our football and help my players to develop, we must add more. More tactical principles. More training for more repetitions. More different formations to be more “flexible”. Today, I believe in the opposite: We remove…

Overplanning what to coach shifts your focus on certain things, but makes you blind to everything else. Yes, planning works. To a point. However, you may not see the biggest problem right in front of you, because you're fixated on something else. Instead of memorizing, use…

Analytical vs. Systems Analytical Thinking: The player is the sum of their parts (technique, coordination, cognition, fitness, strengths, etc.). Conclusions: - Isolate the elements. Improve them. Then put them back together. - More repetition = better (linear system) -…

The goal of training is not to eliminate uncertainty. But to prepare your players to deal with it. Just like in school: The goal shouldn't be to memorize facts that may or may not matter later. It should be to prepare students to handle the uncertainty of life.

136. I just found an old coaching document. It is my collection of exercises. It has 136 pages. And each page has 1-2 exercises. I didn't open it for years. I remember one day, I opened that list to add a new "cool" exercise I saw. But at that moment I realized: I didn't…

Team intention creates structure. Players find a position to support the team idea. For example: The goal is to outplay the press, positions are the tool. However, if we prioritize structure, we often stifle players and prevent creative solutions.