The term pre-season is defunct in the modern game to some degree, with elite sportsmen and women keeping a solid fitness base all-year long; downtime may well have been a feature of the sport years ago, but it is not today.
With summer international tournaments, pre and post-season tours and European qualifying fixtures filling the void between domestic campaigns, the period between one season finishing and another starting is also less than it once was.
As such, elite players have a requirement, desire and need to remain in tip-top physical condition the year round, with a number of telling elements ensuring that the game’s best are ready to perform over a consistent period of time.