Nutrition at the Top of the Game: Emerginig Evidence-Based Nutritional Strategies for Elite Football Performance on the Road to FIFA World Cup 2026
A special issue of Nutrients (ISSN 2072-6643). This special issue belongs to the section "Sports Nutrition".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 25 June 2026 | Viewed by 19
Special Issue Editor
Interests: molecular response to exercise; exercise nutrition; exercise physiology; epigenetics; cross-talk
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Football is the most popular sport worldwide, not only according to its sociological or media impact, but also considering the number of players.
The relevance of general eating habits and diet quality for performance, the periodization of nutrient intake and hydration practices on matchdays, as well as the use of certain supplements, are clearly recognized. More recently, other nutritional considerations have emerged, such as glycemic index or glycemic load, gluten-free or ketogenic diets, intermittent fasting, antioxidant supplementation, and the modulation of gut microbiota composition and metabolic activity. Their impact on the physiological or metabolic parameters related to performance or fatigue still needs further study, as available information is more limited.
With the 2026 FIFA World Cup on the horizon, we propose this Special Issue to further our understanding of the aspects mentioned above and other less explored issues in the field of nutrition and football, such as the design and implementation of tailored interventions for optimizing intake, the relevance of compounds derived from food preparation methods, and a deeper understanding of applied chronobiology, eating disorders, or precision nutrition through the study of nutrigenetic, nutrigenomic, and nutriepigenomic approaches.
Dr. Eduardo Iglesias-Gutiérrez
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- football
- soccer
- dietary habits
- tailored interventions
- supplement use
- probiotics, prebiotics, and postbiotics
- periodization
- gut microbiota modulation
- ketogenic diets
- intermittent fasting
- nutri-omics
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