Seven players have been measured with a top speed greater than that of Kylian Mbappé (23) in the FIFA World Cup. But probably nobody is really faster than the French phenomenon.
The explanation: being a fast soccer player is about more than top speed.
Kylian Mbappé, who is seeking his second world championship title with France on Sunday, will be the fastest footballer in the world.
Sunday’s opponent is ball genius Lionel Messi and his Argentina. The match starts at 4:00 p.m. and the final is broadcast on NRK1.
– Kylian Mbappé does like other extremely good footballers, these are “false starts”. And the “false start” is legal in football. Reading the game and properly analyzing what is going to happen in the next few seconds provides this advantage. They don’t need to be the fastest, just the smartest, says Jostein Hallén, professor of physiology at the Norwegian Sports Academy.
1 of 3Photo: FRANCK FIFE / AFP
In the book “Training Theory for Sport”, Jostein Hallén and Lars Tore Ronglan analyzed speed in football and other ball games.
Running straight ahead represents a very small part of the speed of a football player. Often this is done in less than two seconds.
A fast footballer is therefore something different from being Usain Bolt. If you want to deliver fast football, good speed of movement, good reaction skills, high ball security, ability to read the game and high accuracy are needed.
You saw it in the World Cup: Mbappé receives the ball upside down with a defender behind him. A few seconds later, he is turned straight ahead – and several meters ahead.
“As the player moves, there are often changes in direction, and it turns out that a player with a relatively moderate maximum running speed can score high on a test that requires a lot of changes in direction,” write the two authors in the book. .
Measured with the eyes, probably no one has played soccer faster than Mbappé in the FIFA World Cup. This despite the fact that seven players were measured with a higher top speed, according to Marca:
1. Kamaldeen Sulemana, Ghana, 35.69 kph
2. Nico Williams, Spain, 35.59 km/h
3. David Raum, Germany, 35.40 km/h
4. Antonee Robinson, USA, 35.39 km/h
4. Daniel James, Wales, 35.39 km/h
6. Achraf Hakimi, Morocco, 35.29 km/h
6. Ismaila Sarr, Senegal, 35.29 km/h
8. Kylian Mbappé, France, 35.19 km/h
8. Nemanja Radonjic, Serbia, 35.19 km/h
8. Tajon Buchanan, Canada, 35.19 km/h
When French newspaper Le Figaro named Mbappé the fastest player in the world in 2020, the Frenchman had a top speed of 36 km/h.
It is still far behind Usain Bolt’s 44.72 km/h when he set the world record for the 100 meters with 9.58 in 2009.
Jostein Hallén and Lars Tore Ronglan point out that the most important prerequisite for getting a fast game is good interaction.
“Speed in football is therefore an integral part of the football skills of the players and the team. Speed in all ball games depends more on accuracy than on speed of movement. Only when accuracy is at some level, the team can take advantage of the movement speed of the players,” the duo wrote.
