Virgil van Dijk: How Can Force Plate Technology Help Evaluate a Player’s Performance?

Force Plate Technology helps assess aspects of neuromuscular performance in footballers by measuring and analysing forces produced during tests such as the Countermovement Jump (CMJ). The data can support athlete profiling, performance monitoring, rehabilitation, and return-to-sport decisions, but it should not be used alone to determine a player’s readiness.

Virgil van Dijk and Force Plate Technology: discover how force plates can help assess neuromuscular performance, monitor football players, and support rehabilitation and return-to-sport decisions, with a focus on Countermovement Jump (CMJ) testing.

In modern football, evaluating a player’s readiness is no longer based solely on what can be seen on the pitch. Behind every training session and physical assessment, there is a growing amount of data that can help coaching, performance, and medical teams better understand a player’s condition, from force production and physical output to how the player responds to training loads.

A notable example came when Virgil van Dijk and Georginio Wijnaldum returned to Liverpool’s pre-season preparations ahead of the 2018/19 season. On the first day of pre-season, the two players underwent a series of tests, including an assessment using a Force Plate to measure the force they could produce during jumps and the height they could reach. Liverpool explained that these measurements provided an indication of the strength of their muscles and groins.

However, the value of Force Plate technology goes far beyond measuring how high a player can jump. The technology allows practitioners to capture ground reaction forces and derive a range of performance variables that can help them understand how an athlete produces and applies force during movement. This has made force plates increasingly valuable in sports performance, rehabilitation, and athlete monitoring.

Van Dijk and Wijnaldum: When a Jump Becomes More Than Just a Jump

A jump may appear to be a simple movement, but in sports science it can provide a significant amount of information. During a Countermovement Jump (CMJ) performed on a Force Plate, the objective is not simply to measure jump height. The test can also capture the forces produced by the athlete throughout different phases of the movement.

These data can help practitioners examine aspects of neuromuscular performance, including how force is produced during propulsion and how the athlete manages force during landing, alongside other variables that can be used to profile an athlete and monitor changes in performance over time.

Research involving professional footballers has demonstrated that Force Plate testing can provide a broad range of kinetic variables during jumping, rather than relying on a single number such as jump height.

How Does a Performance Team Read the Data from a Player Like Wijnaldum?

When Van Dijk and Wijnaldum returned to Melwood in July 2018, the Force Plate assessment was not conducted in isolation. The players also completed other physical tests as part of their pre-season programme, including a lactate test.

This is an important point when understanding the role of technology in football: one test cannot provide a complete picture of a player. Force Plate data become more meaningful when considered alongside the player’s training and medical history, other strength and performance assessments, the training loads they have been exposed to, and how their results change over time.

For that reason, a single result should not be treated as a definitive verdict on a player’s readiness. Instead, it should be viewed as one component of a broader assessment process that helps practitioners make more informed, data-driven decisions.

After an ACL Injury: What Can the Data Tell Us About Footballers?

The importance of these measurements becomes even more evident when dealing with an athlete’s return from injury, particularly injuries that can affect force production and the way force is distributed between limbs.

One study involving 370 professional male football players compared healthy players with players at different stages following anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACL Reconstruction), using countermovement jump testing on dual Force Plates. The researchers found that between-limb kinetic deficits could remain even more than nine months after surgery.

A separate systematic review and meta-analysis covering 33 studies and more than 2,300 participants also found that several Force Plate variables could distinguish individuals following ACL reconstruction from healthy controls. These included jump height, concentric impulse, and impulse asymmetry. Importantly, the researchers concluded that, because of the variation between studies, a combination of parameters may provide a better picture of functional deficits than relying on a single metric.

Mohamed Salah as an Example: Is Jump Height Enough to Tell the Whole Story?

If jump height were the only measure that mattered, evaluating a footballer would be much simpler. But athletic performance is far more complex than a single number.

A player may achieve a strong jump height while the underlying data reveal differences in how force is produced between the two limbs. Conversely, one metric may improve while other indicators still require monitoring.

This is where the value of a Force Plate becomes clearer. It can provide insight into the mechanics and kinetics behind the final performance outcome, rather than focusing only on the result itself. Research involving professional footballers following ACL reconstruction has shown that Force Plate testing can reveal differences in force production and between-limb mechanics that may not be obvious from overall performance measures alone.

As a result, the practitioner is not only asking, “How high did the player jump?” The analysis can also consider how the player produced force, how that force was distributed, whether meaningful differences exist between limbs, and how those variables have changed compared with previous assessments.

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Barcelona and Sports Rehabilitation: Why Is Comparing a Player to Himself Not Always Enough?

One of the challenges in interpreting performance data is relying solely on comparisons with a player’s current or previous results, or treating the non-injured limb as the perfect benchmark.

Research on professional footballers following ACL reconstruction has found that some strength and power characteristics can remain below pre-injury values or those of healthy players at the point of return to sport. This suggests that using the non-injured limb alone may not provide enough information to determine whether an athlete has fully recovered.

This is one reason why profiling has become an important concept in modern sports performance. Rather than focusing on a single measurement, practitioners can build a broader picture of an athlete using multiple tests and performance indicators, then monitor how those variables change over time.

From Van Dijk to the Next Generation: How Do You Build an Athlete’s Profile Through Data?

The value of Force Plate testing does not simply lie in producing a good result on a particular day. Its greater value comes from being able to compare results across different stages of an athlete’s development.

When a player is tested regularly under similar conditions, practitioners can monitor changes in performance, force production, and responses to training. This can provide a clearer picture of the athlete’s direction of travel—whether performance is improving, remaining stable, or showing changes that warrant further assessment.

Recent research involving professional and youth footballers in the English Football League has established objective benchmarks for tests including the Countermovement Jump (CMJ), Countermovement Rebound Jump (CMRJ), and Isometric Mid-Thigh Pull (IMTP). The study included players from seven clubs and demonstrated meaningful differences in several force and performance metrics between age groups.

When Player Data Becomes a Football Decision

The real value of data does not lie in the number itself, but in the ability to interpret that number within the context of the individual player.

Force Plate technology does not replace the judgement of a coach, doctor, physiotherapist, or strength and conditioning specialist. Instead, it provides an additional layer of objective information that can help practitioners better understand what is happening during movement. For this reason, Force Plates can contribute to performance assessment, regular monitoring, rehabilitation, and return-to-sport decision-making alongside other tests and clinical information.

The story of Van Dijk at Liverpool illustrates the concept clearly: the player we see running, jumping, and moving on the pitch can also be assessed through the data generated by those movements. As sports science continues to develop, the ability to collect, interpret, and translate this data into practical decisions has become an increasingly important part of modern football.

Ultimately, the goal is not to replace the coach’s eye with numbers, but to make that eye more informed by measurements that can be tracked, compared, and interpreted over time.