The 11+: the injury prevention warm-up

The 11+ programme explained for amateur football: the injury prevention warm-up used all over the world, step by step.

Thibaud C. · Fitness coach · Last updated: September 26, 2026

FIFA offers a preventive warm-up (the "11+") reported to reduce the number of injuries by 30 to 50%.

Studies have been carried out mainly on young players aged 13 to 17 and have shown that teams doing the "11+" exercises at least twice a week reduce the number of injured players by 30 to 50%.

This warm-up can be used for young players in those age groups but also for seniors. Here it is.

It has 3 parts

• 1. Running — 8 min
• 2. Strength - Balance — 10 min
• 3. Running — 2 min

Part 1 — The running exercises (around 8 minutes)

Six runs at slow pace, along about ten cones laid out in two parallel lines. You run out and jog back, two passes per exercise:

• Running straight ahead: getting going, without chasing speed.
• Running with hip out: at each cone, you lift the knee and open the hip outwards.
• Running with hip in: the same movement, but the knee comes inwards.
• Running circling your partner: the two players meet in the middle, circle each other with side steps, then set off again.
• Running with a jump and shoulder contact: in the middle, the two players jump sideways and touch shoulders in the air, landing on two bent legs.
• Running forwards and backwards: two cones forward, one back, at a quick tempo.

Part 2 — Strength, plyometrics and balance (around 10 minutes)

This is the heart of the programme. Six exercises, each with three levels: you only move to the next level once the previous one is held cleanly, without compensating.

• The plank: on the forearms, body aligned. Level 2: lift one leg then the other. Level 3: hold on one leg.
• The side plank: on one forearm, hips high. Next levels: raise and lower the hips, then lift the upper leg.
• Hamstrings (the Nordic exercise): kneeling, a partner holds the ankles, you lower your torso forwards as slowly as possible. It's the most studied exercise of the programme, and the one most often skipped because it's hard.
• Single-leg stance: balancing on one foot. Level 2: throw a ball between two players. Level 3: gently unbalance your partner.
• Squats: on your toes, then walking lunges, then single-leg squats.
• Jumps: vertical jumps, then lateral jumps, then box jumps in four directions. You insist on the landing — knees bent, aligned over the feet — more than on the height.

Part 3 — Back to running (around 2 minutes)

• Running at 75 to 80% of full speed along the length of the pitch.
• Bounding runs, seeking length of stride rather than frequency.
• Running with a plant and change of direction: a few quick steps, a decisive brake, then setting off in another direction.

What makes it work (or not)

The most decisive factor found in the studies isn't the choice of exercises, it's consistency: teams that apply it regularly achieve markedly greater reductions than those doing it now and then. Three practical consequences:

• It replaces the usual warm-up, it isn't added to it. That's the only way it survives in a session of an hour and a half.
• Twice a week minimum, otherwise the observed effect fades.
• Quality beats quantity: three well-executed exercises beat six rushed ones. Above all, correct the jump landings and the knee alignment.

You can reproduce the same warm-up exactly as it is. But you can also use it as a template to build your own, keeping the structure (slow runs, a strength and balance block, back to sharper running) and picking out the exercises. That way you adapt the warm-up to the work that follows.