The Performance Demands of a World Cup with Dr Dave Hancock

In this episode of the Science for Sport Podcast, Richard Graves welcomes Dr Dave Hancock back to the show.

Dave has spent more than three decades working in elite sport, including roles with Chelsea, Leeds United, the England national team and the New York Knicks. He is now CEO of Apollo, where his work focuses on helping performance teams use data, technology and AI to better understand player availability, injury risk and performance.

Dave begins by sharing the latest developments in his Blind Screen approach, which looks beyond traditional testing by examining movement quality, control and rotational demands. He explains how Apollo is combining screening information with AI-generated insights, practitioner feedback and individualised exercise recommendations.

The conversation then turns to the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Drawing on his experience of working with England at the 2010 World Cup and Euro 2012, Dave discusses the challenges facing performance and medical teams across a long international tournament: heat, travel, accumulated club workload, recovery, sleep, mental freshness and the need to bring a squad together around one common goal.

This is a practical discussion about the margins that matter at the highest level of sport, from interpreting data more effectively to preparing players and staff for the demands of tournament football.

In this episode you will learn

• How Dave’s Blind Screen approach is developing and being used with elite athletes and teams.
• Why rotational movement may be an important missing consideration in traditional screening methods.
• How AI can help practitioners combine objective data with coaching and clinical insight.
• The key physical demands facing players heading into the 2026 World Cup.
• Why player preparation must become increasingly individualised after a demanding club season.
• The importance of sleep, recovery monitoring, travel planning and heat acclimatisation during a major tournament.
• Why mental freshness, squad togetherness and staff culture can influence performance at international level.
• What Dave learned from working with England at the 2010 World Cup and Euro 2012.

About Dr Dave Hancock
Dr Dave Hancock is the CEO of Apollo and an experienced performance director, chartered physiotherapist and strength and conditioning coach.

Across a career spanning more than three decades in elite sport, Dave has worked as Head Physiotherapist at Leeds United and Chelsea, served on the medical staff of the England national team at the 2010 World Cup and Euro 2012, and spent seven years as Performance Director of the New York Knicks in the NBA.

Through Apollo, Dave now works with sports teams around the world, using athlete management technology, data and AI to support player availability, injury risk management and performance decision-making.

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