Progressão

Jani Sarajärvi & Jussi-Pekka Savolainen

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SOCCER
UPDATED WEEKLY

Progressão is a book, a podcast, and a long-term thinking project focused on football, learning, and skilful human behaviour. Our work approaches football from a complex, holistic, and ecological perspective, where players and all football actors are understood as living beings always in correspondence with their environment.

4D AGO

#179 Football as a complex phenomenon: game logic and team dynamics

In this episode of the Progressão podcast, we continue our exploration of football as a complex phenomenon, focusing on the internal logic of the game and how this logic shapes team-level dynamics. Football is often described through phases of play or isolated tactical actions. From a complex systems perspective, however, the game can be understood as a continuous interaction between two teams, each trying to progress toward its goals while simultaneously preventing the opponent from doing so. From this interaction, different kinds of dynamics emerge: continuity and disruption, flow and interruption, order and disorder. In this episode, we explore how football unfolds through changing states of the game, rather than clearly separated phases. We discuss ideas such as game flow, stability and instability, risk and safety, and phase transitions, using concrete examples ranging from wave-like attacks to chaotic situations near the ball. These moments are not random, but constrained by the internal logic of the game and the interaction between players, space, time, and rules. From there, we move to the team level. We examine how teams organise themselves structurally and functionally, how formations and collective actions shape what is possible on the pitch, and how recognisable ways of playing emerge over time. Playing style is discussed as a way of making sense of football’s complexity, helping coaches and players navigate a rich and constantly changing environment. The episode also highlights how team-level organisation influences behaviour at smaller scales, preparing the ground for the next episode, where we will focus more closely on sub-groups and local coordination. This episode deepens the foundation for understanding football not as a sequence of isolated phases, but as a living, dynamic system, where game logic and team behaviour are inseparable. Further reading mentioned in the episode Gréhaigne, J. F., & Godbout, P. (2014). Dynamic Systems Theory and Team Sport Coaching. Quest, 66(1), 96–116. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00336297.2013.814577 ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/272119838_Dynamic_Systems_Theory_and_Team_Sport_Coaching 🌍 More at progressao.fi 🐦 Follow us on X: @progressaofi

9 min
FEB 10

#178 Football as a complex phenomenon: game scales

Welcome to the Progressão podcast. Today’s episode starts our discussion on football as a complex phenomenon. This time, we focus especially on the different levels, or scales, of the game. Football is often analysed by breaking it into parts: phases of play, technical actions, tactical structures, or physical demands. While these perspectives can be useful, they can also fragment our understanding of the game. In this episode, we take a different view. We look at football as a complex adaptive system, where many elements continuously correspond with one another, and where behaviour emerges across different, interconnected levels. We discuss the game level, the team level, the sub-group level, and the player level, using the idea of scales to explore how the same game can be understood differently depending on where we place our focus. Like looking at a forest from afar, from within, or up close, each perspective reveals something different — yet it is always the same forest. We also question some traditional ways of structuring the game, such as strict phase-based models and clear separations between attacking and defending. Instead, we explore how intentions, dynamics, and capacities overlap and evolve throughout a match. This episode sets an important foundation for understanding football not as a collection of isolated actions, but as a living, dynamic phenomenon that unfolds across multiple, interconnected levels. Thank you for listening. You can follow our work at progressao.fi and on X and Instagram at @progressaofi.

11 min
FEB 3

#177 DISCUSSÃO MUNDO: Niklas Moisander – build up and relationist football

Discussão Mundo Revisited Before we begin, a short note on why we’re sharing this episode again. As Progressão now continues fully in English, we also want to revisit and republish some of our earlier Discussão Mundo episodes — conversations that were listened to the most and that still feel highly relevant today. This episode is one of those. Here, we speak with Niklas Moisander, former captain of the Finnish national team and a player whose career spans Europe’s top leagues and teams such as AFC Ajax. At the time of this conversation, Niklas was playing for Malmö FF, working under head coach Henrik Rydström. Niklas has always been an exceptional player in build up, known for his calmness on the ball and his ability to read the game. And at that moment, Malmö were developing a very distinctive way of playing, often described as relationist or unpositional football, where relationships between players matter more than fixed positions. That combination made this conversation especially rich. We talked about build up, relational ways of playing, and how a team’s playing style shapes what skill actually looks like in the game. These themes are very much at the centre of current football discussions, which is why this episode still feels relevant and fresh. So whether this is your first time listening, or you’re returning to this conversation, we’re very happy to share it again. We welcome Niklas Moisander.

47 min
JAN 27

#176 Too much technique? Generic forcing in football

What happens when players become highly technical, but less effective in the game? In this episode of the Progressão podcast, we introduce generic forcing, a concept we developed to describe behaviour where players try to impose rehearsed technical solutions onto the game, instead of adapting their behaviour to what the situation actually offers. We explore how generic forcing emerges when technique is learned and practiced without sufficient connection to real game information. We draw parallels from jazz improvisation, where copying and forcing learned patterns can break the flow of music, and connect this to football training environments that emphasise repetition over adaptation. We also discuss observations from elite youth development, including recent changes at one of Sweden’s most successful ice hockey academies, where players had become technically sharper but less adaptable in the game itself. Through examples ranging from street football to elite-level players, we argue that technique is not the problem. The problem arises when players lose their connection to the game environment. This episode invites coaches, players, and educators to reflect on a fundamental question: Are we training players to repeat solutions, or to find them? Progressão is a book, a podcast, and a long-term thinking project focused on football, learning, and human behaviour from a complex, holistic, and ecological perspective. 🌍 More at progressao.fi 🐦📸 Follow us on X and Instagram: @progressaofi

11 min
JAN 20

#175 Skill in football: a player- and group-level phenomenon

In this episode of the Progressão podcast, we continue our discussion on skill in football. While skill is often understood as an individual quality — something that belongs to a single player — this episode explores skill from a wider perspective: as a phenomenon that also emerges at the level of groups and teams. We ask why it is important to talk about group-level skill. When skill is understood narrowly as individual technical ability, group-level behaviour is often reduced to tactics and pushed to later stages of development. In the previous episode, we discussed Arsène Wenger’s well-known house metaphor, where technique forms the foundation and tactical skills are learned later. This way of thinking can delay the learning of essential football skills related to coordination, cooperation, and acting together. In this episode, we explore skill as something that does not exist only in individual actions, but also in how players coordinate, adapt, and act together. Drawing on ideas from ecological dynamics and complexity, we discuss key concepts of group-level skill such as collective action, coordination, synchronisation, and synergies. We also return to the player level, reframing individual skill not as isolated action, but as co-action — skillful behaviour that is always relational, whether with or without the ball. Off-ball actions are discussed as fundamental football skills that should be developed early, alongside on-ball actions. This episode continues the reframing of skill introduced in our first English episode and connects directly to ideas presented in our upcoming book, including a visual figure that illustrates skill as something that lives in the overlap between player and group. Progressão is a book, a podcast, and a long-term thinking project focused on football, learning, and human behaviour from a complex, holistic, and ecological perspective. 🌍 More at progressao.fi 🐦📸 Follow us on X and Instagram: @progressaofi

12 min
JAN 13

#174 Progressão goes all English: skill in football

Progressão is now in English. This episode marks the beginning of a new chapter for the Progressão podcast. Until now, most of our episodes have been in Finnish. Our book, Progressão – How We Have Misunderstood Football, has been published in Finland and Estonia, receiving very positive and thoughtful reviews in both countries. The book is currently being translated into English, and as part of that process, the Progressão podcast is now fully in English. Progressão is a book, a podcast, and a long-term thinking project focused on football, learning, and skilful human behaviour. Our work approaches football from a complex, holistic, and ecological perspective, where players and all football actors are understood as living beings always in correspondence with their environment. In this first English-language episode, we turn to a fundamental and often-debated topic: skill in football. We discuss how skill is commonly understood, why traditional views can be limiting, and how skill can be seen as an embodied, relational phenomenon that emerges in the game itself. Listeners familiar with our earlier Discussão Mundo episodes may recognise some of the themes. Those episodes include conversations with Niklas Moisander (Episode 102), Duarte Araújo (Episode 75), and Jamie Hamilton (Episode 164). This episode serves as an introduction to our English-speaking journey and sets the foundation for future discussions on learning, training, and coaching in football. More information: www.progressao.fi X: @progressaofi IG: @progressaofi

13 min
11/25/2025

#173 DISCUSSÃO: Jalmari Nummiluikki

Me emme vielä tiedä, mihin kaikkeen keho kykenee. Tiedämme yhä enemmän, yhä vähemmästä. Mitä jalkapallopeli on ja mitä se voi olla, merkitä, avata tai synnyttää? Kelle peli kuuluu? Kuka sitä pelaa? Mitä on ihmisyys? Tämä on Discussão. Kun joulukuu saapuu, me hiljennymme, mutta ennen sitä avaamme ehkä koko vuoden vaativimman keskustelun. Sisällöltään tihein. Rikkain. Haastavin. Vieraamme Jalmari Nummiluikki haastaa ajattelusi kulkua, kuten Béla Tarrin Sátántangó (7h 15min), joka saa katsojan elämään ajan eri tavalla. Tässä jaksossa emme etsi vastauksia. Emme rakenna teoriaa. Emme perusta mitään valmiille. Me avaamme polun, jota ei ollut ennen tätä hetkeä. Polun, joka syntyy vain liikkeessä. Polun, joka ei kysy lupaa, ei tavoitetta, ei valmista muotoa. Jos etsit timantteja, tämä jakso sisältää niitä. Mutta ne eivät loista omassa valossaan. Ne täytyy etsiä, ja ehkä vasta myöhemmin huomata. Tervetuloa vuoden viimeiseen Progressãoon.

59 min
11/18/2025

#172 Puolustaminen Veikkausliigassa

Tervetuloa Progressãoon. Kylillä liikkuu huhu, että Veikkausliigassa puolustetaan huonosti. Onko se totta? Tässä jaksossa pohdimme, millaista puolustaminen Veikkausliigassa on eri näkökulmista tarkasteltuna: ajatusmaailma ja filosofia puolustamisen takanaprässin jälkeinen vetäytyminen ja jahtaaminenmatala blokki ja boksin puolustaminenvalmentajaprofiilit

13 min

Progressão is a book, a podcast, and a long-term thinking project focused on football, learning, and skilful human behaviour. Our work approaches football from a complex, holistic, and ecological perspective, where players and all football actors are understood as living beings always in correspondence with their environment.

Creator

Jani Sarajärvi & Jussi-Pekka Savolainen
Years Active

2022 - 2026
Episodes

179
Rating

Clean
Copyright

© 2026 Progressão
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Progressão

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Sports

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