More than 10 years ago, when he released his autobiography "Pep Confidential," Pep Guardiola admitted the influence of chess on his football philosophy. A story circulated during his early days at Bayern Munich: Pep Guardiola told his new players, "When you receive the ball, imagine you're playing chess on a vast, sun-drenched prairie. You must understand and predict the next three moves you and your teammates will make with that ball." It was an incredibly abstract, almost surreal instruction, but now people are gradually understanding it. Football is about handling situations and anticipating the course of the game before your opponent. Chess is the same. Quick thinking. Space. Strategy.
 |
| Besides football, striker Haaland is also passionate about chess. Photo: Jonathan Turton |
Pep Guardiola's inspiration for applying chess to football came from his meeting with chess legends Kasparov and Carlsen in New York. Similarly, coach Setien (who once managed Barcelona) also studied chess and its application to football, to the point where he achieved an Elo rating of 2055.
For footballers, it would be surprising to learn that most of the world's top stars play chess, are skilled at it, and consider it a positive complement to their football. Salah, Pulisic, Olmo... use chess to train their thinking, helping to enhance their sharpness and strategic planning, whether they have the ball or not. The German national team even has a dedicated chess area, frequented by players like Musiala, Kimmich, and Sane... In the English national team, Kane is the best chess player, with an Elo rating of 1200. He also regularly plays chess with his teammates at Bayern Munich. For Kane, it's a sport that helps him learn spatial awareness, emotional control, and perseverance.
According to research by De Spiegel, the first players to take up chess as a form of exercise were German national team players half a century ago. The first mentioned include Vogts, Bonhof, and others. They regularly played chess in their free time, before training for the 1978 World Cup.
It can be said that football currently applies many training methods from other sports, but chess is the most popular and has the potential for practical application, especially in terms of expertise, tactics, and thinking. In the world of football, there are many players who play both sports professionally, for example, Serbian national team player Dejan Joveljic (elo 2217), Norwegian national team player and chess grandmaster Simen Agdestein (elo 2833)...
Haaland, the world-class striker for the Norwegian national team, is also a semi-professional chess player. He is a major investor in the Norwegian Chess Federation and the Total Chess World Championship Tour, which consists of four tournaments per season with an annual prize pool of approximately $2.7 million. Haaland once shared: “Chess has striking similarities to football. It helps me train my mind, trust my intuition, react quickly, and have a clear strategy and plan.”
For those who don't play (professional) football, it might be a bit hard to imagine, but try to picture a match at the 2026 World Cup resembling a chessboard? And it's no coincidence that the photo of Ronaldo and Messi was staged with a chessboard.
Source: https://www.qdnd.vn/the-thao/worldcup-2026/world-cup-2026-bong-da-va-co-vua-1044829
![[Image] Ho Chi Minh City: Ma Lang area, Chicken-Rice Market about to change its appearance](https://vphoto.vietnam.vn/thumb/1200x675/vietnam/resource/IMAGE/2026/06/25/1782377698627_ndo_br_m1-jpg.webp)
