That being said the holy grail for most team sports is power.
Not strength.
Not hypertrophy.
But power.
That's not to say strength and hypertrophy aren't important but on their own they are simply part of the bigger picture.
The equation for power backs this up:
(Force x Distance) / Time = Power (watts)
The force part is the strength side of power.
A bigger muscle has the POTENTIAL to create more force so it's a precursor of sorts to increased strength (but not always).
The time factor is the what 99% of footballers are missing.
In team sports EVERYTHING is a race.
You're constantly in a race of some form whether it be to get to the ball first, make a decision faster then the opponent or to physically assume a position to shrug a tackle or at least get your hands free to give a handball off.
Having the force part is not enough in most cases because force is slow by it's very nature.
Force is high force/low velocity.
I tell ya what, video yourself doing a 1 rep max bench press vs a bench press at max speed at 30% of that 1 rep max.
Have a look at the time/s it takes you to complete the lift in full as well as breaking down the eccentric, isometric and concentric portions of the lift.
Light loads promote speed.
Power is usually displayed at force levels of about 30 - 40% of your max force number so it's pretty much moderate force/moderate velocity.
Velocity is displayed at 0 - 20% of your max force number so it's low force/high velocity.
Ideally you want to be able to optimise your strength and speed somewhere in the middle which is where my videos below come into play.
The first video is a complex I did last week of Seated Military Presses paired with Push Press Throws in the vertical push force vector.
The Military Presses have been worked down over a number of weeks from a low force load (80% ish) to a low power load (30% ish).
Without explaining my full program for this (maybe later if someone asks me nicely), the power exercise potentiates the velocity exercise (velocity is low force/high velocity).
The second video is a complex of Bench Press paired with Shot Put Throws doing the exact same thing but in a horizontal push force vector.
The information posted above might be new to you but it's not the secret to building literal explosive power but here's it is:
THROW/RELEASE EXERCISES
In any exercise where the load does not leave the hands there is a LOT of declarative action going on which is a protective mechanism built into the nervous system so you don't throw your shoulder out.
If you're using an exercise to build acceleration/explosiveness then you DON'T WANT ANY deceleration aspect to that exercise at all.
By throwing or releasing the load then you are building acceleration throughout the entire exercise resulting in high velocity release speeds.
That's why I used the throwing exercises above.
If you don't have the room for the throwing exercises in your gym then there's not much you can do for the vertical push movement but you can still do a bench press throw in a smith machine or barbell style like this:
You might need to build your confidence and accuracy with this one!
Give this a shot in the back end of the season to peak your power output in time for finals action.
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