5 Best Fitness Trackers for Soccer Players

Any good soccer player needs to maintain a high fitness level to perform at their peak. And the best way to know if you are maintaining or even improving your fitness level is to track it.

In this article, I’ve put together a list of what I think are the best fitness trackers available to help you be the best soccer player you can be.

The best fitness trackers for soccer players are:

1. Garmin Venu
2. Misfit Vapor X
3. Fitbit Versa 2
4. Misfit Vapor
5. CATAPULT ONE Soccer GPS Tracker

In this article, I have kept the review of fitness trackers to those below $500, as that is the price range most people are looking at.

However, if you are looking for something in a higher price range and higher quality, I highly recommend you look at the Garmin Fēnix® 6S (click here to go straight to the Garmin website and check it out or click on the image below to see it on Amazon.)

The Garmin Fēnix® 6S is not just the best Garmin watch for soccer but the best soccer watch on the market. Although you will be looking at upwards of $500 for one of these, you get a premium watch for your money that you can even upgrade to solar to harvest solar energy if you want.

This watch has everything you could possibly want from a fitness tracker and can give you the tools and data you need to achieve a greater fitness level than you ever thought possible.

And, at the other end of the scale, if you are looking for a fitness tracker for around $100, then I would recommend the Fitbit Charge 3 (click here to check it out on Amazon). With over 5,000 5-star reviews, up to 7-day battery life, and real-time stats during your workouts, you could be watching your fitness levels increase as it happens!

Why Tracking Fitness Is Important for Any Soccer Player

If you are going to purchase a fitness tracker, it’s important to know why tracking your fitness is important as a soccer player and how it can make a difference.

The National Institute for Sport and Fitness (NISF) gives seven reasons why you should.

1. It makes it more likely to reach and surpass your goal.
2. It allows you to be more efficient in your time and workouts.
3. Lends accountability to yourself and your goals.
4. It allows for easier modifications and shows when and where changes need to be made.
5. It can be motivating and reinforcing to remind you why you are doing what you are.
6. It helps to drive the focus and direction of your programming.
7. Keeps you committed to your plan.[source]

Being able to track your fitness allows you to see where you are at with your level of fitness where you need to improve, and then it gives you the satisfaction of seeing your improvement each time you work out.

One of the best ways to inspire and help you work harder and get fitter is to follow a fitness program. This is why I created Your Soccer Fitness Guide.

This Soccer Fitness Guide is designed to help you reach your potential as a soccer player by getting you fit fast. The daily step-by-step guide follows the same training that professional soccer players use.

If it works for the pro’s just imagine what it can do for you!

Check it out here or click on the image below.

The 5 Best Fitness Trackers for Soccer

So now we’ve established why, as a soccer player, it’s important to track your fitness, let’s look at what the best fitness trackers are.

1. Garmin Venu – My Number 1 Recommendation

This fitness tracker is, in my opinion, the best fitness tracker out there for any serious soccer player.

The range of stats and metrics it gives you access to through the Connect app is astounding for a smartwatch fitness tracker and is far superior to any other fitness tracker on this list. This alone would arguably make it worth owning, but there is much more to it than just that.

Made of fiber polymer and weighing only 1.64oz (46.5g), the Garmin Venu is lightweight but tough and durable. The 1.2-inch (30.4mm) touchscreen, which offers a 390 x 390-pixel resolution, is a full AMOLED touchscreen, making the text and images on the screen incredibly clear and uncommonly easy to read.

The battery life is also impressive, especially when you compare it to some other smartwatches, which struggle to last 24 hours. This one boasts a battery life of up to 5 days!

You do need to be aware that the 5-day battery life doesn’t allow for the use of GPS or music.

When those two are turned on, you’re looking at up to 6 hours of battery use. However, this is more than enough time for an extensive workout, and when using the fitness tracker in smartwatch mode throughout the day, there is very little need to have the GPS or music turned on anyway.

The Garmin Venu also comes with 20 pre-set activities, from running to swimming, that you can choose from. These can be customized to your preferences and will work well when adjusted to a setting based on what your soccer coach or trainer wants you to do.

The Venu features animations to show you how to do specific activities, such as strength exercises. This is especially helpful when you are just beginning, as you can clearly visualize what is expected.

Although it does feature sleep tracking including monitoring sleep stages, respiration rate, pulse ox, and movement, one area where this tracker is weak is as a health watch. It’s great as a fitness tracker but if you are looking for features such as ECG or heart arrhythmia detection you won’t find them on this watch.

The Garmin Venu is also not as accurate underwater as it is above water, but that is common to most fitness trackers and it still has a lot to offer if you plan on using it regularly for swimming.

The hydration logging tool is another feature that I really appreciate about this watch. It’s easy to keep it updated whenever you hydrate, and it will also give you an estimation of the fluids lost during a workout so you know how much fluid you need to replace.

The last area that really stands out about this fitness tracker is its support of music streaming services such as Spotify, Deezer, or Amazon music. I love having music to work out to, and the Garmin Venu allows me to do this.

This fitness tracker is at the more expensive end of the price range for fitness trackers, but, as with many things in life, you get what you pay for, and in my opinion, what this fitness tracker offers is worth the cost.

This is the fitness tracking watch that every serious soccer player should own.

To check out this fitness tracker on the Garmin website, click on the button below.

2. Misfit Vapor X

**Unfortunately, it seems this fitness tracker is currently unavailable online. I recommend you check out my review of the Playermaker Soccer Tracker as an alternative.**

My number 2 recommendation for a fitness tracker for soccer players is the Misfit Vapor X. This fitness tracker is a great tracker and comes a close second to the Garmin Venu.

This is my favorite fitness tracker to look at on this list. The design is better than all the others and it just looks great on your wrist. Unlike the fiber polymer that the Garmin Venu is made of the Misfit Vapor X is made of aluminum alloy with a matt finish and because of this looks and feels like a premium smartwatch.

It could easily be worn all day long and not just for workouts. There are some fitness trackers out there that look too “sporty” to be worn at any other time but this watch would not look out of place at any formal event.

It’s also lightweight and incredibly comfortable to wear. You could easily forget your wearing it throughout the course of a day.

It also has a 1.2-inch AMOLED screen which makes it great to look at, read, and use both outside and inside.

The operating system is really intuitive to use and the physical buttons can be customized to open whatever activity or app you prefer.

The fitness tracking on this device is run by Google Fit (although you can easily add your own third-party apps if you prefer).

Google Fit is a great system to use to track your fitness. It collects a huge amount of data and metrics from the Vapor X that will help you understand where you are in your fitness journey, however, it isn’t quite at the same level as the array of stats and metrics available on the Garmin Venu.

One aspect that does hold this fitness tracker back and dropped it into second place rather than first on my list is the speed at which it works and the battery life.

It does have a tendency to lag occasionally and isn’t the quickest at opening apps. However, for many people, this may not be an issue and they will be happy to wait the extra second or two for it to perform the operation you’ve asked it to. The battery also only lasts a day or two at best.

This is a fitness tracker that when used as it’s designed to be used is both a joy to experience and a joy to look at.

Click on the button below to check out this fitness tracker on the Amazon website.

3. Fitbit Versa 2

No list of fitness trackers would be complete without a Fitbit.

Fitbit is probably the most well-known brand name in the fitness tracker market and for a good reason. They pretty much created the fitness tracker market and, more importantly, they still make great fitness trackers, which over 17,000 great reviews on Amazon for this tracker, which you can check out by clicking here, testify to.

First, let’s start with the look of this fitness tracker. Unlike the classic looking thin rectangle shape Fitbit’s, this one has a square display more like a smartwatch. In my opinion, this looks so much better.

As with the previous fitness trackers on this list, the Fitbit Versa 2 includes a great AMOLED touchscreen protected by Gorilla Glass 3 making it a tough product able to withstand most things a soccer workout will through at it.

The battery life on this tracker is also impressive lasting around 5 days with regular use. Be aware that using the “always on watch faces” will reduce battery life so have a play around with them and see if you prefer them on or not.

One of the things I find most impressive about this fitness tracker is how smooth it is to use. Almost every touch or action has an incredibly fast response time and most of the time it feels as though there is no lag at all. This is rare in many electronic devices.

This Fitbit contains multiple fitness features including:

• Oxygen level monitor
• Total steps,
• Steps per hour,
• Heart rate,
• Sleep stats with sleep tracking done automatically
• Food and water intake monitoring
• Alexa integration

The Fitbit Versa 2 is also a great option for those of you who enjoy using water activities as part of your soccer fitness training as it’s water-resistant up to 50m.

One thing that is not included is GPS. If you want to include that in your tracking you will have to connect and carry your phone.

Although everything that is included with the Fitbit is great, to take your tracking up a level you should consider Fitbit Premium. Costing around $10 a month, or less if you pay annually, Premium will offer you access to personalized insights, resources, and workouts designed to improve your workouts and fitness.

In my opinion, combining Fitbit Premium with the 30-day soccer fitness program is a sure-fire way to increase your fitness and become a better player in no time at all.

Not trying to be a smartphone as many smartwatches try to do, the Fitbit Versa 2 is all about fitness tracking while still offering some smartwatch benefits such as messaging and calendar notifications.

Click here to check out the Fitbit Versa 2 on Amazon or click on the button below to check out this fitness tracker on the Fitbit website.

4. Misfit Vapor 2 – best budget option

This fitness tracker is has everything you want to be able to track your fitness but at a much cheaper price than any of the recommended trackers so far.

It contains a host of features that any soccer player would want to track their fitness. Including an accelerometer, an altimeter, a gyroscope, and a heart rate tracker allow the device to gather all the basic information needed to tell you how you are doing.

And maybe surprisingly the Misfit Vapor 2 includes a GPS which not all budget, or higher range, fitness trackers do. This means that you can happily leave your smartphone behind as you head out to train or go for a run.

The battery life is reasonably average lasting at least 1 day or 2 days at most. For many people, this may not be an issue though and they will happily put it on to charge each day alongside their phone.

Available for around $100 on Amazon this fitness tracker really is a great fitness tracker for any soccer player looking to purchase a good fitness tracker while sticking to a limited budget.

It doesn’t have all the features of a more expensive fitness tracker, but it also doesn’t have the same price tag.

Click on the button below to check out this fitness tracker on the Misfit website.

5. CATAPULT ONE Soccer GPS Tracker

This soccer tracker is a little different than the other recommendations so far as it’s a wearable GPS vest and app rather than a watch. If you’ve watched any pro soccer training sessions in the last few years, you’ve probably seen the players wearing something similar.

These “vests” are worn around the upper body of the soccer player and contain a GPS tracker on the back that tracks, among other things, the player’s movement, speed, position, power, and intensity on the soccer field throughout a game or training session.

I’ve recently written a more in-depth review of the Best Soccer GPS Tracker Vests, including the Catapult PLAYR tracker. If you’re interested in a GPS tracker vest, I highly recommend clicking here to jump over to that article.

There are a few significant advantages to this product over a wrist fitness tracker.

1. One is that it gives you much more precise GPS data than a watch-style fitness tracker
2. It can be worn during either a training game or a real game. Unlike many wearable watch fitness trackers.

After a training session, you simply sync up the device with the app and allow it to compile and give you the data.

The app also contains a feature called SmartCoach. SmartCoach is designed to give you advice on how to improve your game based on the data provided throughout the game. This feature can really make a big difference to a player and help them see a big improvement in how they play.

Battery life is around 7 hours which should give any player more than enough time to switch it on, train, or play a game, and then sync it to the app.

The purpose of the CATAPULT ONE Soccer GPS Tracker is to track all your activity on the soccer field and provide you with clear and helpful data afterward to allow you to improve your game and be a better player the next time you step out onto the soccer field.

Click on the button below to check out this fitness tracker on Amazon.

Conclusion

In conclusion, if you want the best fitness tracker as a soccer player then seriously consider the Garmin Venu (click here to find out more on the Garmin website).

If you want the best-looking fitness tracker then go for the Misfit Vapor X (click here to find out more on the Misfit website).

And if your looking for the best fitness tracker on a budget then the Misfit Vapor will give you everything you need at a low price. (click here to find out more about the Vapor 2 on the Misfit website).

If you want the best fitness tracker solely dedicated to tracking your activity rather than one also operating as a smartwatch then I’d recommend the Fitbit Versa 2. (Click here to check this tracker out on Amazon.)

And if you want the most accurate GPS data in a wearable vest form then you should check out the CATAPULT PLAYR Soccer GPS Tracker. (Click here to go to Amazon and see this fitness tracker.)

Recommendations

If you’re interested in the best soccer drills for improving your skills then click here to go to my top 10 list of soccer drills.

And if you want to know everything you need to know about soccer positions then click here to go to my recent article all about it.