Scientists help make footballers fitter

Sport scientists have joined forces with football coaches to develop better fitness programmes for professional footballers.

More than 65 delegates attended Britain's first football fitness conference at Leeds Metropolitan University.

Mark Nesti, head of the MSc in sports science at Leeds Metropolitan University, said: "Coaches tend to be more interested in tactics than fitness training. The general view is that scientific theories have no place in the hard world of professional football. We need to show them that they do."