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• 15 November 2022

Science and the World Cup: how big data is transforming football

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Belgium (in red) beat Brazil in a quarter-final match during the 2018 World Cup. Credit: TF-Images/Getty

The scowl on Cristiano Ronaldo’s face made international headlines last month when the Portuguese superstar was pulled from a match between Manchester United and Newcastle with 18 minutes left to play. But he’s not alone in his sentiment. Few footballers agree with a manager’s decision to substitute them in favour of a fresh replacement.

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Nature 611 , 444-446 (2022)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-03698-1

Penn, M. J. & Donnelly, C. A. PLoS ONE 17 , e0268511 (2022).

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Gómez-Jordana, L. I., Amaro e Silva, R., Milho, J., Ric, A. & Passos, P. Sci. Rep. 11 , 9792 (2021).

Omidshafiei, S. et al. Sci. Rep. 12 , 8638 (2022).

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Peer-reviewed

Research Article

A systematic review about the performance indicators related to ball possession

Contributed equally to this work with: Si hang Wang, Yang Qin

Roles Formal analysis, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Department of Physical Education, Tianjin University of Sport, Tianjin, China

Roles Conceptualization, Data curation

* E-mail: [email protected]

Roles Methodology

¶ ‡ These authors also contributed equally to this work.

Roles Supervision

• Si hang Wang, 
• Yang Qin, 
• You Jia, 
• Kwetche Emmauel Igor

• Published: March 17, 2022
• https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0265540
• Reader Comments

The purpose of this review was to investigate the influence of the performance indicators related to ball possession on the match outcome and team performance. Following the PRISMA 2020 (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses) guidelines, this systematic review searched for literature on Web of Science, Scopus and Pub Med database, the publication date of the retrieved literature is set from January 2000 to December 2020. The keywords ‘football’ or ‘soccer’ were each paired with the following terms: ‘ball possession’, ‘ball recovery’, ‘ball regain’, ‘transition’, ‘playing style’, ‘possession zone’, ‘duration’ and ‘running performance’. The search returned 2,436 articles. After screening the records against set criteria, 75 analysis were made, and their technical and physical indicators were identified. Through analysing ball-possession related variables, the review concluded that the match outcome is not related to ball possession percentage. The ball possession percentage is not dominant to predict the match success. The status of ball possession percentage can affect the team’s performance in passing, organizational and running distance with the ball possession. There are league differences in ball possession strategies and duration. The frequency and offensive efficiency of direct ball recovery types are higher than indirect types. Ball possessions regained in the defensive third were higher than the final third. However, there remain some limitations such as the difference in the definition of concepts and sample participants, only a few studies consider the influence of situational variables and lack of in-depth analysis on ball possession strategy. Therefore, further study should adopt a more comprehensive approach, establishing a new connection between possession strategy and more technical and tactical indicators.

Citation: Wang Sh, Qin Y, Jia Y, Igor KE (2022) A systematic review about the performance indicators related to ball possession. PLoS ONE 17(3): e0265540. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0265540

Editor: Anthony C. Constantinou, Queen Mary University of London, UNITED KINGDOM

Received: June 9, 2021; Accepted: March 3, 2022; Published: March 17, 2022

Copyright: © 2022 Wang et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Data Availability: All relevant data are within the manuscript.

Funding: The authors received no specific funding for this work.

Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Introduction

In order to better understand the constraints of promoting team success in football, performance analysis plays a very important role in team sports [ 1 ]. Match performance is the result of dynamic interactions of physical, technical and tactical actions and movements from all competing players [ 2 ]. Match success is achieved by the combination of coaches’ teaching philosophy and the technical and tactical performance of players during the competition [ 3 ]. Although team success is complex and multifactorial, technical indicators have been found to predict team success more accurately than physical indicators [ 4 ]. More specifically, ball possession, number of shots, shots on target, number of passes and pass completion rates are all associated with team success [ 5 ].

Ball possession was regarded as a popular performance indicator in a football match [ 6 ]. Several studies have revealed that ball possession has positive effects for a team to achieve match success [ 7 – 11 ]. Teams with more ball possessions mean that they can organize more attacks and create more opportunities for goal scoring. In addition, the teams that had long possession time can firmly grasp the initiative of the match, exert greater psychological and physiological load on opponents, and thus improve the chances of match success [ 12 ]. However, scoring goals is the ultimate variable that determines the match outcome, the number of goals was determined by the shooting quality rather than ball possessions [ 13 ]. Moreover, football is a sport with a low frequency of goal scoring, and it only accounted for 1% of ball possessions in elite matches [ 14 ]. Therefore, in order to make full use of the 1% of ball possessions, it is very important to analyze the characteristics of ball possession, especially in successful attacks.

In this context, in the past decade, many studies showed that the ball possession percentage of the successful teams was higher than the unsuccessful teams [ 4 , 15 , 16 ]. For example, during the 2010 World Cup tournament, the national team of Spain won the championship with the highest average possession percentage of 66.3%, while the German national team won the championship with the highest average possession rate of 56.7% in the 2014 World Cup [ 8 ]. However, in recent years, the role of possession percentage in the analysis of technical indicators has gradually weakened. Many studies have pointed out that possession rate does not reflect the real situation of the game, the number and percentage of ball possessions do not mean more opportunities for shooting and scoring [ 17 ]. In the 2018 World Cup, the France national team won the World Cup with less than 50% possession percentage per match. Therefore, the value and role of ball possession need in-depth study.

At present, increasing studies try to establish the relationship between the characteristics of ball possession and team performance [ 18 , 19 ]. Some studies through the relationship between ball possession and technical [ 5 ] (i,e., passing, shooting, aiming and scoring) and physical indicators [ 20 , 21 ] (i,e., total running distance, high-intensity running distance, running distance with and without balls) to explore its value and function. In addition, the ball possession strategy is reflected by the characteristics of the offensive organization per possession [ 22 , 23 ]. Previous studies divided the playing styles into direct attack, counterattack and elaborate attack [ 24 – 26 ]. The duration of ball possession represents the complexity of the team’s attack, and it is also an important variable to evaluate the features of ball control [ 27 – 29 ]. However, the ball possession will not be obtained in vain, many studies attached great importance to the ball recovery patterns [ 30 – 32 ]. The research on the type and area of ball recovery will benefit the teams to regain the ball possession more efficiently when defense organization, and handle it more cautiously and reasonably when attacking, so as to improve the offense efficiency of the teams.

However, there are many studies about the indicators related to ball possession, and many contributions have been made, while there was not exist the systematic review on ball possession. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to systematic review the impact of performance indicators related to ball possession on football matches, investigate the relationship between ball possession related indicators and match outcome and team performance, clarify the role of ball possession in performance analysis, and summarize the achievements and limitations that researchers have made. Additionally, coaches could utilize these information to establish trends and objectives for teams and players in training and competition in order to enhance team performance.

The present systematic review of the studies related to ball possession was executed according to the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-analyses) statement [ 33 ]. The publication date of the retrieved literature is set from January 2000 to December 2020. In order to improve the efficiency and accuracy of the search, ensure the quality of the articles. The databases of Web of Science, Scopus and Pub Med were searched by using the keywords ‘football or soccer’ and combining the following terms, such as ‘ball possession’ ‘ball recovery’, ‘ball regain’, ‘transition’, ‘playing style’, ‘possession zone’, ‘possession duration’ and ‘running performance’. Each of these keywords was first carried out independently and then combined into Boolean search using the AND operator. In order to ensure maximum retrieval of articles, the keywords in all fields were searched and extracted the needed information for this study.

Inclusion and exclusion criteria

The following inclusion criteria for these articles were used: (1) the research variables were performance indicators related to ball possession; (2) the population was limited to healthy professional male or female adult football players and (3) the language of the article was English. The articles were excluded if they: (1) the sample were children or adolescents (under 18 years); (2) the research has no data support (3) were conference abstracts; and (4) the article was written in other language and did not provide an English abstract and method information. If there was a disagreement on the inclusion of articles between the two independent reviewers, the final decision was delivered to the senior author due to the greater experience on these matters. In the process of screening articles, the assessment of eligibility of the articles was performed by one review author. All articles were screened from titles and abstracts. Once there is ambiguity or indecision, two other reviewers will be invited to judge the disagreement, and the differences between inclusion or exclusion of research will be resolved through consensus.

Quality of the articles

As in previous research [ 26 ], to make a fair comparison between studies of different designs, the decision was taken to calculate a percentage score as a final measure of methodological quality. In the present study, the quality score of all included articles was evaluated by two authors from the following 13 critical components: (1) clarify the purpose of the research; (2) relevant literature review; (3) rationality of research design; (4) participants; (5) rationality of sample size; (6) informed consent; (7) reliability and validity of measurement results; (8) detailed description of experimental method; (9) research results; (10) analysis of research methods; (11) theoretical connection; (12) conclusion; (13) implication. Then sum up the binary scores of each item, calculate the final average score, and present it as a percentage to reflect the quality standard of the article. The standard classification of the score is as follows: low quality of research method scored ≤ 50%; good quality of research method scored between 51% and 75%; and high quality of research method scored ≥ 75%. The scoring and classification methods used in this paper are consistent with the statistical methods used in previous literature reviews. By calculating the Kappa value of Cohen, an independent reliability analysis between raters was made for the quality scores [ 34 ].

Data extraction

From each study, relevant data were extracted by one review author and checked by a second author. Disagreements between the two authors were resolved by discussion and if no agreement could be reached, a third author would make the final decision. The following information was extracted from each included study: (1) the study sample, i,e., the season and location of the leagues, the number of players and matches; (2) the purpose of the study; (3) ball possession related variable analysed, i,e., ball possession percentage, possession time, ball recoveries; (4) main results, the impact of ball possession related indicators to the team performance.

Search results

By searching keywords on the Web of Science, Scopus and Pub Med, 2,436 articles were initially searched, and then 824 duplicate articles were eliminated. Then the articles were screened out based on screening the titles and abstracts. After excluding the studies with small sample size, the sample participants were young or amateur football players, and the scale of matches were small-sided games, only 71 articles were left. Subsequently, after manually searching related journals and reference pages, it was found that 5 articles were of good quality and met the selection criteria, but they were not included in the review list. Eventually, after adding these 5 articles, a total of 76 articles were comprehensively reviewed. The process of screening the primary documents (see Fig 1 ) is shown in the following PRISMA flow diagram [ 35 ].

• PPT PowerPoint slide
• PNG larger image
• TIFF original image

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0265540.g001

In a previous study, Sarmento et al. [ 36 ] proved the quality of the literature through the database of Web of Science. In the present review, according to the scores of 76 articles given by two authors, it was concluded that the average quality score of all articles is 85.9%. In previous studies, there has never been a research method that can achieve the highest score of 100% or less than 50%. 5 studies were classified as having good methodological quality (the quality score is between 51% and 75%), while 71 studies had excellent methodological quality (the quality score is greater than 75%). The inter-rater reliability analysis obtained a Kappa value of 0.88, which indicated that the consistency among the observers was very good [ 26 ]. The main defects of methodological quality involve rationality of research sample size and confirmation and description of research limitations.

Data organization

All included studies were published ranged from 2002 to 2020, 19 articles (25%) were published from 2002 to 2012, while 57 articles (75%) were published from 2013 to 2020. The geographic origins of the included studies were: Spain(n = 22), England (n = 21), Germany (n = 7), France (n = 3), Italy (n = 3) and other countries (n = 10). In addition, 25 studies analysed World Cup matches, while 16 studies analysed UEFA Champion League matches, 6 studies analysed European Football Championship matches, comprising teams from different European countries and clubs. The sample participants of this review are all professional football players. The participants of most studies (n = 73) were male football players, only 4 studies involved female football players. Since the majority of studies only record the number of matches, but neglect the number of players, this review can not calculate the number of participants, and the number of matches observed varied from 6 [ 37 ] to 6,078 [ 38 ]. The variables related to ball possession were: ball possession (n = 21), ball possession strategies (n = 17), ball possession duration (n = 9), ball recovery patterns (n = 15), running performance (n = 14). The types of reviewed studies included: descriptive analysis (n = 17), comparative analysis (n = 29) and predictive analysis (n = 30).

Research topic

Percentage of ball possession..

Ball possession is the ratio of the possession time of one team to the total possession time of two teams, and it is one of the factors that is used to examine which team holds the initiative and the rhythm of the match [ 38 ]. Generally, the successful teams are usually able to get higher ball possession percentage. but the ball possession percentage is only one of the technical variables, and it needs to be combined with other variables for comprehensive analysis.

Ball possession strategy.

The ball possession strategy was defined as the style of play at these five moments during the match [ 39 ], such as established attack, transition from defense to attack, transition from attack to defense, established defense and set play.

Ball possession duration.

The duration of ball possession is the epitome of the team’s offensive tactics, and the playing style of the team is composed of the offense or defense characteristics per possession. Generally, the duration of ball possession is divided into three categories, that is, 0–5 seconds, 5–12 seconds and >12 seconds [ 9 , 19 , 40 – 42 ]. Investigating the characteristics of ball possession time is conducive to understanding the offensive patterns of modern football.

Patterns of ball recovery.

Ball recovery was regarded as one of the reliance for successful teams by sports scientists, that is, on the type of ball recovery and the area where it occurs [ 30 ]. Ball recovery is particularly important because it symbolizes the end of the defensive phase and the initiation of the offensive stage. If a team cannot regain the ball possession, which means the team has no chance of goal scoring. A successful chance to regain the ball possession not only depends on the excellent performance of the defender but also on the offensive performance and efficiency of the attacking players. Therefore, it is necessary to figure out the influence of ball recovery patterns on team performance, such as the influence of different types of ball recovery on the attack success, and whether the attack efficiency is related to the zone where the ball possession is obtained, so as to be able to implement adequate training regimes and get objective feedback.

Running performance.

Running performance was one of the most popular physical indicators in football matches [ 16 , 28 , 43 ], but increasing studies have found that running distance with possession of ball can distinguish the team’s match performance better, and it is a comprehensive indicator combining physical and technical variables [ 44 ].

The present systematic review aimed to investigate the interaction of the performance indicators related to ball possession with team performance. Through the in-depth analysis of the previous studies, it was decided that the most appropriate way to discuss the results would be the different presentation forms of ball possession, including ball possession percentage, ball possession strategy, duration, ball recovery patterns and running performance.

Ball possession percentage

Ball possession has always been regarded as an important technical indicator to measure the match performance of a team, and it has also been widely studied in recent years [ 6 ]. The studies related to ball possession percentage mainly focus on the following aspects: the influence of ball possession percentage on the match success, the indicators that affect the status of ball possession percentage and the impact of different status of ball possession percentage on team performance, as presented in Table 1 .

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0265540.t001

In the research on the relationship between the ball possession percentage and match success. Previous studies found that the ball possession percentage can significantly affect the outcome of the match, and the success of the game is often won by the team with a higher percentage of ball possession [ 7 , 11 ]. Goral and Kemal [ 8 ] confirmed the viewpoint in the study of the 2014 FIFA World Cup tournament, the lead in ball possession percentage is one of the important characteristics of successful teams, and winning teams often have a higher ball possession percentage, especially in the final third. However, Kempe et al. [ 46 ] regarded that the ball possession percentage may have a positive impact on the outcome of the game, but it cannot fully reflect the real situation of the game. A higher ball possession percentage does not mean that the number of shots and goals are higher, the key to match success lies in the quality of shooting [ 13 ] and the effectiveness of attack [ 38 ]. Conversely, the results of some studies [ 17 , 53 , 54 ] showed that the differences in the impact of ball possession percentage on the match outcome. For instance, Aquino et al. [ 17 ] reported that the ball possession percentage is irrelevant to the outcome of the game, but the match outcome is related to the playing formation of the team. Mohd et al. [ 54 ] reported that during the 2010 FIFA World Cup and the 2009–2010 Bundesliga season, there was no obvious relationship between ball possession percentage and the match outcome, but the match success was significantly influenced by the number of shots.

In the research related to the indicators that affect the status of ball possession percentage, previous studies have found that the factors include: match location [ 49 ], the quality of opponents [ 50 ], match status [ 47 ], playing formation [ 17 ], passes accuracy [ 8 ], cognitive ability and awareness of players [ 51 ]. For example, Kubayi and Toriola [ 50 ] reported that match location has significant effects on ball possession, the home teams had a higher ball possession percentage than the away teams. Which was in line with the findings from Aquino et al. [ 45 ]. However, Dizdar et al. [ 49 ] found that the home advantage cannot be represented in the ball possession percentage in the First Croatian Football League. Bradley et al. [ 47 ] and Maneiro et al. [ 19 ] demonstrated that the ball possession percentage was higher when the team was losing rather than winning. The reason for the increase in ball possession may be the desire of the losing team to regain the score. They are inclining to take more risky offensive actions to possess the ball and create the scoring opportunities, while the leading team focused their attention on the defense and consolidated its advantages. Aquino et al. [ 17 ] indicated that during the 2018 FIFA World Cup, the ball possession percentage of the team with 4231 formation had a higher ball possession percentage than 442 formation. The reason is that the 4231 formation team has wider passing routes and more diversified playing styles. Aquino et al. [ 45 ] reported that during the 2015–2016 season in EPL, home teams presented higher ball possession value than away teams, the ball possession percentage was higher when playing against weak teams than strong teams.

As for the studies on the impact of different status of ball possession percentage on team performance, Bradley et al. [ 16 ] analyzed the 2013–2014 seasons in EPL (English Premier League) and found that the total passes and passes received in HPBPT (high-percentage ball possession teams) was higher across all playing positions than LPBPT (low-percentage ball possession teams), and HPBPT performed 44% more passes than the players in LPBPT. Bradley et al. [ 47 ] reported that the variables that discriminated between HPBPT and LPBPT were different for various playing positions, the successful passes were the most common discriminating variable. Tschopp and Cavin [ 53 ] indicated that during the 2016 European Football Championship, HPBPT teams performed more passes and successful passes than LPBPT. But Mota et al. [ 29 ] indicated that during the 2014 FIFA World Cup tournament, the differences between HPBPT and LPBPT in technical and physical performance were not significant.

Ball possession strategy

Team performance involves the interactions of technical, tactical and physical activities among players [ 56 ]. These interactions are the result of coaches’ tactical arrangement and game dynamics, and they can be explained by measuring the offensive and defensive behaviors of players and opponents of a team [ 57 ]. Previous studies have made some findings as shown in Table 2 . Fernandez-Navarro et al. [ 58 ] found that possession play and direct play were the most commonly used tactical strategies during the 2006–2007 and 2010–2011 seasons in EPL and Spanish first division teams (La Liga). Lago-Peñas et al. [ 24 ] reported that the playing style of the Chinese Soccer League was various, including counterattack, direct attack, and possession play. Gonzalez-Rodenas et al. [ 59 ] reported that during the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the teams with possession type of play achieved more scoring opportunities than counterattack teams, and the scoring efficiency of set-piece tactics was also higher than ball recoveries and restarts. The value of ball possession percentage in the score box of counterattack teams was lower than the style of possession play teams, this may be due to the reason that counterattack teams were more inclined to organize attacks by long passes [ 60 ]. Yi et al. [ 61 ] recorded that during the 2018 FIFA World Cup, the passing, goal scoring performance of possession play teams was superior than direct play teams. But Sarmento et al. [ 26 ] indicated that the offense efficiency of counterattacks is 40% higher than positional attacks. Gonzalez-Rodenas et al. [ 59 ] demonstrated that counterattack was more efficient than mixed play and direct attack only when the opponent’s defense was weak, and the long passing sequence could achieve more scoring opportunities when the defense was organized.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0265540.t002

Lago-Peñas and Dellal [ 12 ] reported that during the 2008–2009 season in EPL, the ball possession strategy was influenced by situational variables, and the ball possession time would be reduced when the team was ahead. When the home team plays against the away teams with defensive tactics, they tend to adopt the ball possession strategies such as counterattack or aggressive tactics. Regardless of home advantages, when against strong teams, it is more likely to adopt a defensive playing style and counterattack than an elaborate attack. And the likelihood of adopting an aggressive playing style was higher than a defensive playing style and counterattack when against weak opponents. This is in accordance with the results of several studies [ 7 , 25 , 48 , 64 ]. Sarmento et al. [ 36 ] compared the ball possession strategies for the two consecutive seasons from 2013 to 2015 in EPL, La Liga, Serie A and Bundesliga League and pointed out that the playing styles in different leagues were influenced by many factors, such as regional culture, coaching philosophy [ 22 ] and the technical and tactical ability of players [ 65 ]. English Premier League teams prefer direct attack. Serie A teams are more inclined to traditional defensive style, while La Liga teams advocate the tactical style of ball possession. However, the direct attack of EPL, which is characterized by long passing, can make the penetrating attack in the final third more effective, and the number of threatening attack opportunities per game is three times that in the European Champions League, although it is closely related to the disparity of opponents in the domestic league. And Castellano and Pic [ 22 ] indicated that the ball possession strategies of the teams should be flexible to formulate tactics according to the situation on the field and around the key players.

Ball possession duration

The duration of each ball possession is the epitome of the team’s tactics [ 25 ]. Reep, Benjamin [ 67 ], Hughes and Franks [ 5 ] reported that the shorter the ball possession time and short passing sequence could create more opportunities for goal scoring. As Table 3 presented, Harrop et al. [ 9 ] found that 38.8% of the possession lasted for 5–12 seconds, while the possession lasted for more than 12 seconds accounted for 37.3% in La Liga. This shows that the teams in the English Premier League prefer the tactics of direct attack, while the teams in La Liga prefer the patience of passing and organizing. Moreover, the players in La Liga usually have prowess individual ability and brilliant passing and receiving skills, which is one of the reasons why they can maintain a high ball possession percentage. At the same time, the La Liga team scored more goals in the ball possession duration for more than 12 seconds than the EPL teams, which also reflects that the La Liga teams were not only higher than the EPL teams in the frequency of passing, but also higher in the success rate of shooting. In addition, Lago-Ballesteros et al. [ 23 ] found in the La Liga in the 2009–2010 season that the La Liga teams had longer possession time than EPL teams in the penalty area. This trend is consistent with the findings of Tenga et al. [ 42 ], who discovered the most goals were scored when the possession time lasted for more than 12 seconds, and the number of possessions lasted more than 12 seconds was significantly larger than the bottom teams.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0265540.t003

However, the findings differed from the diverse seasons and competitive level matches. Tenga et al. [ 42 ] found the number of goals that scored in less than 5 seconds attacks in EPL was higher than La Liga teams, which demonstrated that EPL teams had higher attacking efficiency in counterattack. In the 5–12 seconds possessions, the probability of scoring goals in La Liga is 0.3%, which is lower than that in Premier League (0.7%), but the number and efficiency of attacks of La Liga were higher than EPL teams in >12 seconds possessions. Sarmento et al. [ 26 ] reported that during the 2013–2015 two consecutive seasons in La Liga, Premier League, Serie A, and Bundesliga, the possibility of creating a successful attack opportunity will decrease by 2% when the possession duration of the team increases by one second, and the possibility of creating a successful attack opportunity will decrease by 7% when the number of passes increases. When considering the influence of situational variables on the possession time, Bradley et al. [ 47 ] investigated the matches in the 2013–2014 seasons in EPL and found that the number and duration of possessions could increase when against weak teams, and when the teams were losing, the team will pay more attention to fighting for the ball possession in the final third, they will not keep the ball too long in the defensive half, hence, the possession time in attacking half will increase, and the more rank points a team had, the longer duration time in ball possession [ 16 ]. But Taylor et al. [ 71 ] found that the quality of opponents will not affect the team’s overall technical performance.which is lower than that in Premier League (0.7%), but the number and efficiency of attacks of La Liga were higher than EPL teams in >12 seconds possessions. Sarmento et al. [ 26 ] reported that during the 2013–2015 two consecutive seasons in La Liga, Premier League, Serie A, and Bundesliga, the possibility of creating a successful attack opportunity will decrease by 2% when the possession duration of the team increases by one second, and the possibility of creating a successful attack opportunity will decrease by 7% when the number of passes increases. When considering the influence of situational variables on the possession time, Bradley et al. [ 47 ] investigated the matches in the 2013–2014 seasons in EPL and found that the number and duration of possessions could increase when against weak teams, and when the teams were losing, the team will pay more attention to fighting for the ball possession in the final third, they will not keep the ball too long in the defensive half, in hence, the possession time in attacking half will increase, and the more rank points a team had, the longer duration time in ball possession [ 16 ]. But Taylor et al. [ 71 ] found that the quality of opponents will not affect the team’s overall technical performance.

The patterns of ball recovery

The team success of elite football teams also depends on the patterns of ball recovery, which includes the types of ball recovery and the zone that the ball is regained. As for the types of ball recoveries, previous studies have not reached a consensus in this respect (as shown in Table 4 ). Oberstone et al. [ 72 ] found that the most common ball recovery type in EPL was an interception. While in La Liga, set-plays (29.2%) were the most common ball recovery type in La Liga. The reason for this difference may be that the penalty scale of referees in EPL was not as strict as that in La Liga, and the number of set pieces was less. Barreira et al. [ 30 ] investigated the ball recovery patterns in the different zones on the pitch during the 2010 World Cup tournament and found that the tackles usually occurred in the defend third, and the interception mainly occurred in the central zone. In summary, the frequency of direct ball recovery type (interceptions, tackles, goalkeeper saves) was higher than indirect ball recovery type (set pieces, turnover). Rowlinson and Donoghue [ 73 ] found during the knockout stage of 2012 UEFA Championship League matches, the tackle was the most common type of ball recovery. Several findings were consistent with this viewpoint [ 74 – 76 ]. The reason for the differences in the type of ball recoveries may be due to the situational variable effects. When the team was losing, the defensive pressure of the winning teams was increasing, and the probability of making mistakes of defenders would increase as well. It was more likely to seem that the defenders kicked the ball out of the pitch for clearance. In that way, the set pieces may also become the most common ball recovery type.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0265540.t004

Although most ball possessions were regained by interceptions, it was difficult to convert the interceptions into goals [ 72 ]. Hughes and Lovell [ 77 ] found that 0.82% of interceptions resulted in goals and 12.12% of interceptions completed shots during the 2014–2015 UEFA Championship League tournament, which is much higher than the shooting accuracy after an interception in the English Premier League (5.7%) and La Liga (7%). This coincided with the viewpoint of Wright et al. [ 84 ], who discovered that only a low proportion of shots or goals were preceded by interceptions. However, there are also some studies considering that the attack efficiency was higher when the ball possession was regained by tackles. Cooper and Pulling [ 40 ] found that during the 2017–2018 season in the EPL and La Liga, the team from La Liga had superior scoring efficiency (2.5%) compared with the team from the EPL after tackling. Hugh and Franks [ 5 ] reported the most goals were scored in the possession regained by tackles in La Liga. This is because the teams in La Liga can better grasp the opportunities of unbalanced defense, properly dominate the tempo of attack after tackling, and can take advantage of the chance to launch a threatening attack.

In the studies of the effects on the ball recovery types, the area of losing ball possession was most related to the type of ball recovery [ 80 ], but Barreira et al. [ 30 ] disapproved of the view by studying the matches in 2010 FIFA World Cup, who reported that the zone of ball recovery was not significantly associated with ball recovery actions. Alemida et al. [ 78 ] discovered that the match location could affect the type of ball recoveries, the home teams performed better defensive performance, so the possession regained by goalkeeper saves was the least. In the matches between teams were at a similar level, the quantities of ball possessions regained by tackle were higher than the unbalanced matches, the differences may be influenced by the tactical strategy and mistakes that players made [ 57 ]. For example, in order to maintain a high ball possession percentage to dominate the match tempo, they needn’t take much defensive action against weak teams for regaining ball possession. In addition, the scoreline will also affect the type of ball recovery [ 32 ]. When the team was losing, they will duel more fiercely to regain ball possession and organize the attack, while the leading team will focus on the defense task and will not take too aggressive defensive actions.

The area where the ball possession was regained marked the initiative zone of offense [ 83 ]. Tenga et al. [ 42 ] recorded the Norweigan top league for three consecutive seasons from 2008 to 2010 and found that most of the ball possession exchanges took place in the defensive half. Makleki et al. [ 82 ] supported these findings by studying the elite matches in the 2014 FIFA World Cup and found that most ball recoveries were performed in the defensive and middle-defensive zones. Barreira et al. [ 74 ] observed that during the 2010 FIFA world cup, the ball possession recoveries often occupied in the defensive third, but the champion of the tournament regained most ball possessions at the right side, the least at the central zone. Jamil [ 31 ] also found this tendency when observing the EPL matches and complemented that this phenomenon can be explained from the tactical point of view. The tactical play of the Premier League teams prefers carrying out high-intensity defense in the final third, which leads to the midfielder of opponents being can not easily organize the offense and only releasing the ball to both sides. Therefore, the quantities of ball possession regained in the attacking half were larger than the defensive half, especially in the side area.

In the comparative study of attacking efficiency of regaining the ball possession in different areas, Tenga et al. [ 42 ] declared that the attacking efficiency of the successful teams in different zones of pitches was higher than unsuccessful teams, especially when the ball recovery occurred in the defensive zone. Since most successful attacks initiated in the defensive zone require players to achieve penetration with well-timed runs and accurate passes at a high tempo, which is often rarely performed by the players of unsuccessful teams. Hughes and Lovell [ 77 ] observed the knockout stage of the Champions League in the 2014–2015 season and found that the goal scoring opportunities created by the ball regained in the offensive area were 7 times higher than the defensive area, and the number of goals scored was 11 times higher. Some studies have pointed out that the attacking efficiency of the ball regained in the offensive area was higher, such as the number of goals, shots, and set-piece won [ 59 ]. Specifically, Cooper and Pulling [ 40 ] found that most goals were achieved after the ball was regained in the attacking area, while the ball possession obtained from the defending area scored fewer goals. Casal et al. [ 18 ] found that most of the threatening attacks were launched after the ball was regained from the mid-defensive area and the mid-offensive area, and the attacks initiated from the mid-offensive area were even more threatening, because it was the weakest moment for the team to transition from attack to defense, and it was easy for opponents to goal scoring in the situation of imbalanced defense.

Running performance

Running performance in football matches has been widely discussed by experts over the last two decades. As Table 5 depicted. The previous focused on the running distance at the different speed categories, but there are few studies on the association between running performance and ball possession [ 85 ].

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0265540.t005

During the 2007–2009 two consecutive seasons in French League 1, the average running distance with the ball of possession was 191 ± 38 m, the mean speed per possession was 12.9 ± 1.8 km·h-1 [ 90 ]. Bradley et al. [ 16 ] found that there was a significant difference in the running distance with or without the ball. This finding coincided with that of Mota et al. [ 28 ]. Miguel [ 89 ] complemented that the total distance covered and the distance in out of ball possession for HPBPT was lower than the LPBPT, especially at the low and medium speed, but the distance covered with the ball was higher. Dellal et al. [ 20 ] made a comparative study of La Liga and the English Premier League in the 2006–2007 season and found that the La Liga teams covered more distance in the possession with the ball due to the differences in ball possession strategies. The La Liga teams attacks with long passes.

There are also some studies that the running distance with balls is related to other factors [ 21 ]. In particular, the top ranked teams performed more distance with the ball than the bottom teams. The unsuccessful teams covered more distance without the ball possession, but the contribution was limited [ 43 ]. Aquino et al. [ 17 ] examined the running performance in the 2018 FIFA World Cup and reported that 4231 formation covered more distance with ball, and the match outcome was not significantly affected by running distance with or without the ball of possession. Conversely, in the matches from 2012–2013 season in German Bundesliga, Hoppe et al. [ 93 ] found that the match outcome was related to the running distance with the ball, and the greater the running distance with the ball, the more likely the team will win. As for different playing positions, the wide midfield covered the greatest running distance with ball possession, while the forwards covered the greatest running distance without the ball [ 44 ]. In the different competition periods, Bradley et al. [ 91 ] observed the matches from 2005–2006 season in EPL and found that the distance covered with ball possession in the last 15-min was greater than the first 15-min, this may be due to the players’ willingness to reverse the score, which prompted them to cover more distances.

The main purpose of the review was to explore the impact of variables related to ball possession on the match outcome and team performance from the following perspectives: ball possession percentage, possession strategy, ball possession duration, ball recovery patterns, and running performance with possession of the ball.

After reviewing all the included articles, the ball possession percentage is not dominant to predict the match success. The status of ball possession percentage can affect the team’s performance in passing, organizational and running distance with the ball possession. There are league differences in ball possession strategies and duration. For instance, English Premier League teams prefer the direct style of play, and the attack efficiency is higher in a short duration time. However, the main playing style of La Liga teams is elaborate attack, which can achieve more goals through long duration time. The frequency and offensive efficiency of direct ball recovery types are higher than indirect types. Ball possessions regained in the defensive third were higher than the final third. Finally, these variables related to ball possession are significantly affected by contextual variables, among which the main factors are match location, the quality of opponent, and match status. However, there remain some limitations such as the difference in the definition of concepts and sample participants, only a few studies consider the influence of situational variables, lack of in-depth analysis on ball possession strategy. Therefore, further study should adopt a more comprehensive approach, especially establishing a new connection between possession strategy and more technical, tactical and situational variables.

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• 53. Tschopp M, Cavin V. Interaction of ball possession, physical performance and success during UEFA EURO 2016. World Conference on Science and Soccer 2017. 2016;doi:10.13140/RG.2.2.25741.84960.

Talent Identification and Development in Male Football: A Systematic Review

• Systematic Review
• Published: 03 January 2018
• Volume 48 , pages 907–931, ( 2018 )

Cite this article

• Hugo Sarmento   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-8681-0642 1 , 2 ,
• M. Teresa Anguera 3 ,
• Antonino Pereira 4 &
• Duarte Araújo 5  

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Expertise has been extensively studied in several sports over recent years. The specificities of how excellence is achieved in Association Football, a sport practiced worldwide, are being repeatedly investigated by many researchers through a variety of approaches and scientific disciplines.

The aim of this review was to identify and synthesise the most significant literature addressing talent identification and development in football. We identified the most frequently researched topics and characterised their methodologies.

A systematic review of Web of Science™ Core Collection and Scopus databases was performed according to PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses) guidelines. The following keywords were used: “football” and “soccer”. Each word was associated with the terms “talent”, “expert*”, “elite”, “elite athlete”, “identification”, “career transition” or “career progression”. The selection was for the original articles in English containing relevant data about talent development/identification on male footballers.

The search returned 2944 records. After screening against set criteria, a total of 70 manuscripts were fully reviewed. The quality of the evidence reviewed was generally excellent. The most common topics of analysis were (1) task constraints: (a) specificity and volume of practice; (2) performers’ constraints: (a) psychological factors; (b) technical and tactical skills; (c) anthropometric and physiological factors; (3) environmental constraints: (a) relative age effect; (b) socio-cultural influences; and (4) multidimensional analysis. Results indicate that the most successful players present technical, tactical, anthropometric, physiological and psychological advantages that change non-linearly with age, maturational status and playing positions. These findings should be carefully considered by those involved in the identification and development of football players.

This review highlights the need for coaches and scouts to consider the players’ technical and tactical skills combined with their anthropometric and physiological characteristics scaled to age. Moreover, research addressing the psychological and environmental aspects that influence talent identification and development in football is currently lacking. The limitations detected in the reviewed studies suggest that future research should include the best performers and adopt a longitudinal and multidimensional perspective.

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Hugo Sarmento

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Hugo Sarmento is grateful for the support of Centre for the Study of Education, Technologies and Health (CI&DETS), Portugal. Hugo Sarmento and M. Teresa Anguera were funded by two Spanish Government projects (Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad): (1) La actividad física y el deporte como potenciadores del estilo de vida saludable: Evaluación del comportamiento deportivo desde metodologías no intrusivas (grant number DEP2015-66069-P, MINECO/FEDER, UE); (2) Avances metodológicos y tecnológicos en el estudio observacional del comportamiento deportivo (PSI2015-71947-REDP, MINECO/FEDER, UE). Duarte Araújo was partially funded by the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia, under Grant UID/DTP/UI447/2013 to CIPER–Centro Interdisciplinar para o Estudo da Performance Humana (unit 447).

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Sarmento, H., Anguera, M., Pereira, A. et al. Talent Identification and Development in Male Football: A Systematic Review. Sports Med 48 , 907–931 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-017-0851-7

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Peer-Reviewed Football Research: A Comprehensive Collection contributed to technology at the FIFA Women's World Cup™

All technological innovations used at the FIFA Women's World Cup™ underwent thorough scientific evaluations to ensure their integration into the game has positive benefits.

The Topical Collection on Football Research is part of the drive to ensure that football research is peer-reviewed and made publicly available to the benefit of the football community.

The collection consists of peer-reviewed papers and an executive summary which identifies ongoing research in the football technology space.

Harnessing technology in football to reshape the way that the sport is both presented and perceived, as well as unlocking greater efficiency for football’s administration, was one of the core goals of FIFA’s vision 2020-23. Simultaneously, FIFA’s role has been to facilitate the cost-effectiveness of those tools and ensure they are accessible globally to mark a uniform improvement of the football experience around the world – both for players, and for fans.

The symbiotic relationship between football, industry, and academia is deepening, creating opportunities to develop every facet of the game. The combination of new technology, research-led approaches, and football expertise is cultivating an environment where ideas can be developed, assessed, and implemented faster than ever. It is important to ensure that the implementation of these ideas benefit football globally and are supported by scientific evidence. Over the last decade, FIFA and the International Sports Engineering Association (ISEA) have collaborated on a number of projects. The Topical Collection on Football Research in the Sports Engineering Journal was a natural progression of this relationship. The primary objective behind this initiative was to capture and present the most recent research advancements in football while also raising awareness about upcoming topics in the field within academic, industry, and public circles. The collection contains 14 papers that address current challenges and highlight recent scientific and technological developments in football, such as game analysis and player tracking technologies, officiating technologies, and football-surface, -player and -environment interaction.

Showcase the game | Football Technology at the FIFA Women’s World Cup™

14 Sept 2023

Within the collection, an invited paper explores why women-specific tailoring is needed in football. The paper identifies the unique challenges that female players’ experience due to the design and development of technology and football products around male players, as well as a lack of research for female specific challenges. In addition, the paper highlights where focus is needed and calls on industry, and academia to leverage new technologies and research methods to improve performance and health for female players. The Sports Engineering community is keen to explore ideas on how this topic can be further promoted. "Research plays a pivotal role in the exploration and development of new technologies and products for football, providing empirical evidence to quantify benefits, potential risks, and challenges. Every technological innovation introduced at the FIFA Women's World Cup™ had to undergo rigorous scientific evaluations to ensure it had a positive impact on the game” explained Johannes Holzmuller, FIFA Director of Football Technology Innovation. The conclusion of the collection aligns with the ongoing FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023™, capitalising on the excitement surrounding the biggest female football event in history and highlighting important and ongoing research opportunities in football.

February 9, 2023

We Can Make Football Safer

Through better equipment, improved knowledge of head injury and better medical care, we can mitigate the effects of concussion at all levels of football

By Steven Broglio

Ted Kinsman/Science Source

Several years ago, I was at a pre-season football practice at a high school where I was working with the team on a concussion research project.  The players were lined up in two rows facing each other and with little more instruction from the coach than, “on the whistle, hit the man across from you,” grave concern rushed through my mind.

Professional sports get the lion’s share of attention, but concussions are a significant medical issue at all levels of play. While roughly 1,700 athletes play professional football each year, over three million children and adolescents in the United States play the same game. This squarely places concussions as a significant public health concern in homes from coast to coast.   

For decades, athletes, parents, coaches and medical professionals considered concussion a temporary injury with no long-term consequences. Athletes commonly played through it as a sign of toughness. Our thinking on concussion shifted around 2005, when the brain tissue pathology report of Mike Webster, a retired National Football League player , was published. The report was the first to identify chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in a football player and suggested the disease was linked to concussions the player had suffered on the field. Since then, public attention has focused on this link between brain injury and blows to the head, and much of that conversation has centered around football.

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Participation in any sport carries injury risk, and concussion will always be part of that calculus. This was never more evident than early in the 2022 season, when Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa was concussed while playing against the Cincinnati Bengals, his contorted hands on full display in front of a national audience. Concussion prevention and care is better now than it has ever been, but short of ending all sports, we need to do more to prevent them. This means improvements in equipment, better training for coaches and players, and better medical care.

In the early 1900s football was played without helmets, but severe injuries, like skull fractures, lead to the sporadic use of leather helmets in the 1920s. The plastic shell helmet was invented in 1939 and became mandatory a few years later. The first face mask entered the game in the 1950s, and foam padding wasn’t added until the 1960s. Over the years, engineers updated the basic design with more robust face masks and newer internal padding such as air bladders and gel padding. Until recently, these changes were all made with an eye toward reducing the most severe brain injuries such as brain bleeds and skull fractures, and they have been largely successful. But as our understanding of concussion evolved to understand its significance as an injury, so too did the scrutiny of player equipment.

The fundamental problem is that regardless of how much impact force is mitigated by protective equipment, we cannot stabilize the brain inside the skull following an impact – likely making a concussion-proof helmet an impossible engineering challenge. That hasn’t stopped helmet improvements, however. With a new eye toward concussion prevention, researchers at Virginia Tech introduced a helmet rating system specific to concussion risk in 2011. The five-star system (one being the worst, five the best) rates the ability of the helmet to reduce concussion risk. This gives consumers tangible evidence to make an informed purchase. In its first year, only a single helmet was awarded a five-star rating, but now, the most recent rankings list more than 25 five-star helmets. Modern helmets use advanced shell materials that flex upon impact, have moveable panels to absorb forces, and multi-layered padding that responds to different impact velocities. Companies will continue to improve helmets as new materials become available, guided by the newest science .

But engineering limitations should not stop us from closely examining other factors that can reduce concussion risk. For example, in one study of head impacts and concussion across five college football seasons, nearly 50 percent of concussions occurred during the four-week pre-season ; the rest occurred over the next 12 weeks of in-season play. Such data led the NCAA to reduce the number of allowable full contact pre-season practice sessions. Others have shown that reducing the number of high school football practices in which contact is allowed reduces head impacts by as much as 46 percent. Moving the kickoff line forward to the 40-yard line reduced the number of times the ball is run back by the receiving player. This is one of the riskiest plays of the game in terms of concussion.

As players get older and start playing contact football, the coaching staff must teach appropriate tackling technique—not leading with the head and wrapping their opponent up with their arms. Learning how to do this properly has the added benefit of more playing time (i.e., you can't play if you're injured). In addition, having medical providers with training in concussion management at practices and competitions can help identify and rapidly remove injured players, a known factor in reducing injury severity and the time out of sport .

While injury prevention is the best approach, concussions will always be a part of sport participation. This is broader than just football. This injury occurs in all sports and affects athletes regardless of sex. Women, who make up about 45 percent of college athletes, tend to report more concussions in sex-comparable sports , but represent only 20 percent of the medical literature . Some researchers have speculated women are more likely in general to report a medical concern to a health provider, but they also have smaller neck musculature relative to their head mass limiting their ability to stabilize their head when hit. Some data indicate an increased risk of concussion at different points in the menstrual cycle . This all suggests that concussion is not unique to football and unless we intend to ban all sports, it is urgent that we continue working to better understand concussions and how to prevent them.

In the interim, several medical and organizations have created concussion guidelines that did not exist in the early 2000s, and every four years a group of international experts meets to review the relevant medical literature and make recommendations on the best approach to concussion care. The latest guidelines are due later this year. Like all medical advances, change will be incremental and often hard to perceive, but concussion prevention and care is better now than it has ever been. Regardless, many athletes will do just about anything to stay on the field and “play through the pain.” It is imperative to create a culture that supports athletes and encourages them to come forward when injuries happen, empowers them to be their own health advocates, and allows them to protect their overall brain health while playing competitively and safely.

Change is happening in how we view sports-related concussions. In my 20 years of doing concussion research, I can attest that we now take concussion seriously as an injury, better understand impact biomechanics and other risk factors, are making strides to prevent it, and are improving the management and recovery process. Sports are an integral part of American culture, and they give millions of children much-needed exercise. As those children become adults and make sport their hobby or even vocation, ensuring they play safely at all levels is essential.

This is an opinion and analysis article, and the views expressed by the author or authors are not necessarily those of  Scientific American.

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Perceptions of football analysts goal-scoring opportunity predictions: a qualitative case study.

• 1 Departamento de Deporte e Informática, Facultad de Ciencias del Deporte, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Seville, Spain
• 2 Watford Football Club, Watford, United Kingdom

This study aimed to understand the way tactical football analysts perceive the general match analysis issues and to analyze their tactical interpretation of the predictive models of conceded goal-scoring opportunities. Nine tactical analysts responded to the semi-structured interviews that included a general section on the match analysis and a specific one on the results of a study on goal-scoring opportunities conceded by a Spanish La Liga team. Following their transcription, the interviews were codified into categories by the two researchers using Atlas Ti® software. Subsequently, frequency count and co-occurrence analysis were performed based on the encodings. The content analysis reflected that analysts play a crucial role in the analysis of their own team and that of the opponent, the essential skills to exercise as a tactical analyst being “understanding of the game” and “clear observation methodology.” Based on the case study of the conceded goal-scoring opportunities, the major causes and/or solutions attributed by analysts in some of the predictive models were the adaptability of the “style of play” itself according to the “opponent” and “pressure after losing.”

Introduction

In recent years, there are great technological advances in the analysis of football performance ( Sarmento et al., 2017 ). Despite this progress, still there is a gap between the scientific community and the knowledge that the technical bodies of professional clubs actually need to acquire ( Carling et al., 2013 ). A reason for this gap could be the low amount of research that combines both quantitative and qualitative analyses ( Sarmento et al., 2020 ). Though video analysis plays a key role for coaches to improve the performance of their own team and to analyze the opponents ( Wright et al., 2012 ), professional football coaches still encounter problems that have yet to be addressed by research ( Wright et al., 2014 ).

There is one suitable tool that brings data and scientific research closer to answering the tactical questions set out by the technical bodies: the “mixed methods” technique ( Sarmento et al., 2013a ). This methodology is defined by Johnson and Onwuegbuzie (2007) as a way of conducting research that combines quantitative and qualitative research elements. According to Onwuegbuzie (2012) , it can provide added value by giving a more holistic overview of the collected data and by contextualizing the conclusions drawn from the quantitative analysis ( Harper and McCunn, 2017 ). Therefore, the quantitative-qualitative combination is a useful way of identifying not only “what happens in a match,” but also “why it happens,” based on the interpretations made by the professionals of the sport in question ( Halperin, 2018 ). Based on all the above, and because of the holistic nature that data triangulation brings to a study, mixed methods can be described as contributing more than the mere sum of qualitative plus quantitative approaches ( Fetters and Freshwater, 2015 ).

The qualitative research method, such as interviews with the coaches and analysts, could help to develop practical applications of research in game analysis. Despite the extensive literature existing on the match analysis ( Hughes, 2008 ; Carling et al., 2009 ), few studies have collected the opinions of coaches. The evidence that has been collected, for example, on the game observations of the coaches ( Sarmento et al., 2013b ), the role of performance analysis ( Mackenzie and Cushion, 2013 ), and their opinions regarding detected game patterns ( Sarmento et al., 2016 ) is still insufficient compared to a large number of quantitative football studies.

Qualitative case studies make it easier for the coaches to actually apply scientific findings. Indeed, the results are related to the real and specific technical-tactical contexts rather than being generalized ( Ruddock et al., 2019 ). In this sense, the present qualitative study used as a reference, the results of a study on the Spanish La Liga team characterized by a high ball-possession profile. The study concluded by advancing a prediction of the conceded goal-scoring opportunities, based on the contextual, defensive, and offensive variables ( Aguado-Méndez et al., 2020b ). Therefore, the objectives of the present study were as followed:

• First, to understand how the specialists participating in the study perceived the game analysis with respect to their own team and the opponents.

• And second, to examine the tactical interpretation of the analysts of the quantitative data based on a study that focused on conceded goal-scoring opportunities.

Materials and Methods

The selected methodology was qualitative using the semi-structured interviews with open-ended responses ( Smith and Caddick, 2012 ).

Participants

The participants were nine football analysts. Of the nine participants, seven were working for the professional teams (Liga Santander, Liga Smartbank), one was part of the Second Division B team of Spain (Segunda División B), and the other was part of the Third Division team (Tercera División) during the 2019–2020 season. They were all in possession of the senior title of football coach and had served as such throughout their career. The study protocol was approved and followed the guidelines stated by the Ethics Committee of the Research Center of Sport Sciences at University Pablo de Olavide, based at Seville (Spain) and conformed to the recommendations of the Declaration of Helsinki.

Instruments

A semi-structured interview comprising of a general section and a specific section was designed by three game analysis research experts ( Bardin, 2008 ). Questions in the general section ( Table 1 ) were based on the work of Sarmento et al. (2015) . This part of the interview includes general game analysis questions that can be used both for the own team analysis and the opponents.

Table 1 . Questions and categories in the general section of the interview.

Questions in the specific section asked the analysts about the results of the study of Aguado-Méndez et al. (2020a ). This latter work produced four predictive models of conceded goal-scoring opportunities based on the contextual, defensive, and offensive variables in a 2017/2018 Spanish league case study.

The results of four models were:

- Model 1: the probability of conceding goal-scoring opportunities after “own half losing” was four times greater if this took place between 0′-15′ and 46′-60′ than between 76′ and 90′.

- Model 2: the probability of conceding a goal-scoring opportunity after “own half losing” was almost three times greater if the opponent only gave 0 or 1 pass to finish the move than if it gave five or more passes take place.

- Model 3: the probability of conceding a goal-scoring opportunity in the second half was three times greater if the loss of the ball took place by a “steal” than by a “forced mistake.”

- Model 4: the probability of a goal-scoring opportunity conceded being a goal was almost half as likely to result in a draw as in a win.

In the present research, the analysts were asked about the “causes” and “solutions” they would offer as analysts in each of the four models ( Table 2 ).

Table 2 . Questions and categories of the specific section of the interview based on the four predictive models of conceded goal-scoring opportunities.

Category System

A category system was first elaborated ( González et al., 2020 ) following the steps established by Braun and Clarke (2006) . To test it, three interviews were coded based on the predefined category system. Following this pilot coding, the system was configured based on five distinct parts (one for the general section with four questions, and four others with questions on the cause and solution of each model of the study that they were being asked about). After analyzing the interviews, the most frequent answers were established as categories. Figure 1 shows the relationship between the questions of the specific section and its categories.

Figure 1 . Answer frequency of the categories of the first three questions for Objective 1.

Data Collection

Interviews were conducted and recorded via videoconference with experts. Coaches previously received a video summary of the analysis data they were going to be asked about. Each interview lasted for approximately 45 min and recordings were made for the subsequent transcription and analysis in Atlas TI version 8.4.5. The analysts were given time to clarify their thoughts and rewrite their answers.

The authors confirm that the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article and/or its Supplementary Material . This study has followed the Consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative research (COREQ) checklist.

The interviews were recorded via videoconference using the official Blackboard Collaborate Ultra platform of the University Pablo de Olavide, Seville, Spain after obtaining the consent from the participants. The NCH Express Scribe® professional software was used to transcribe the recorded interviews. Finally, Atlas.ti 8.4.5® software was used for the content analysis of the data obtained in the study.

Procedure and Analysis

First, the data were briefly analyzed by transcribing, reading, and noting the initial ideas, establishing a code map per question and category. The codes were then classified under possible themes. Third, a thematic map was constructed based on the coded data to visually analyze the themes and the relationships between them. Once all the content of the interviews was encoded, a frequency count, and a co-occurrence analysis technique of the categories were applied in order to determine the associations between the different categories and/or questions.

The first objective was to know the general perceptions of the analysts toward the game analysis of their own team and that of the opponent. To do this, categories were analyzed using the Atlas.ti version 8.4.5 software using the co-occurrences table based on the questions in Table 1 .

Regarding the first question “what importance do you give to the analysis?,” a total of seven of the nine analysts agreed to describe the analysis as a “Fundamental” process ( Figure 1 ).

The analysis is our point of departure to know what we have and where we are. From this point onwards, we can plan, trainm and re-analyse whether the objectives have been achieved. It is thus essential (participant 4) .

Likewise, when asked about the essential characteristics of an analyst, the answer frequency ( Figure 1 ) underscored “Clear observation methodology” and “Understanding of the game” as the most important attributions.

A good observational methodology is essential for analysts, it implies appropriate control over the data's quality, avoiding observation biases, understanding what is truly observable, validity, precision, objectivity and reliability (participant 4) .

The aspects that were considered to be most important when analyzing the opponent teams, the participants highlighted the fact of knowing “Phases of the opponent's game” and their “Strengths and weaknesses,” and all this “Adapted to the coach's ideas.”

The first thing is to know the game and one's own team, as well as what the coach wants from his team, to be able to show the game patterns and the opponent's strengths/weaknesses compared to what one's own team can offer (participant 5) .

With regard to the assessment of data provider information by the analysts, participants answered three questions: “relevance”, “problems,” and “future” ( Figure 2 ).

Figure 2 . Answer frequency to the question “Data provider information.”

In the case under study, analysts considered “Goal-scoring opportunities” to be the most relevant performance indicator among those offered by the data providers.

The most important thing is the way, quantity and quality of the goal-scoring opportunities generated by the team and what happens after. That is what I attach the most importance to when the match ends, because when you start to improve that aspect, you get closer to achieving results (participant 2) .

Regarding the problems, the analysts agreed on the prominence of two issues: “Overly long reports” and “Data heterogeneity.”

I am very critical of such long reports because despite the great quantity of data, it does not mean that it provides the information you need (participant 4) .

Regarding “Heterogeneity among suppliers” the response of interviewee six was highly illustrative:

We should define the concept of goal opportunity more clearly for data providers. We encountered the problem that for a provider, a move was a clear goal opportunity: a high xG was attributed but not so much in the case of another, the value being lower. Therefore, greater uniformity is needed both for opportunities and in all performance indicators (participant 6) .

Answers on the prospective “future” were organized in two dimensions. First, “custom data” adapting it to the characteristics of each team, second, “predict the opponent's behaviors according to the phase of the game.”

A great breakthrough would be the adding of probabilities, to predict what can happen in certain situations. I think that means and percentages describe what has already happened and cannot be changed, but ideally, it should anticipate what can happen in certain situations so we can work on it (participant 6) .

The second objective of this study was to “examine the analysts' tactical interpretation of a study's quantitative data on conceded goal-scoring opportunities.” The questions posed to the analysts concerned the four predictive models about the conceded goal-scoring opportunities. Participants were asked about the “causes” and “solutions” in the case of each model ( Table 2 ).

A first descriptive analysis ( Figure 3 ) shows that the causes most frequently given in the four predictive models were “Concentration” (14) “Style of play,” (8) and “Opponent” (8). Other causes that obtained a lower percentage were “Conditioning factors,” “Team positioning,” and “Opponents taking part/counterattacking speed.” With regard to the “solutions” proposed by analysts in each predictive model, “Style of play” (19), “Pressure after losing” (8), and “Exercise with conditioner score” (6) obtained the highest response rates. The variables “Concentration” (2) and “Opponent” (1) were the lowest mentioned solutions.

Figure 3 . Frequency of causes and solutions in all four predictive models.

Moreover, beyond a quantitative analysis, the co-occurrence analysis technique allowed the design of a network of relationships between “causes” and “solutions” in the four predictive models ( Figure 4 ).

Figure 4 . Relationship between causes and solutions in the four predictive models.

The “Style of play” category seems to be the most decisive for analysts as it is included in both the “causes” (in model 1, 3, and 4) and “solutions” (for all four models). A highly representative example is the response of interviewee four when asked about the solution in model 1. This model predicted four times greater chance of receiving a goal-scoring opportunity after losing in his own half at intervals 0′-15′ and 45′-60′ than in 75′-90′) ( Aguado-Méndez et al., 2020a ).

One form of intervention may be to change the system. In addition , I would do conditional tasks to provoke movements and situations to my advantage. We also modify these rules according to the exercise's outcome (participant 4) .

Likewise, according to responses of analysts, the “opponent” category was considered an important cause. The interviewees placed this category as a “cause” for three models (1, 3, and 4), as well as the “solution” in model 4. In this model, it was predicted that it was two times more likely that the conceded opportunity would end in a goal with a favorable result rather than a tie. An example of how the “opponent” influences this model is exemplified by participants four and six.

Real Betis team, even when leading on the scoreboard, did not changes its idea of play very much, while the opponent was taking steps forward to achieve a tie, and that can lead to receiving more goal-scoring opportunities (participant 6) .

On the other hand, the “pressure after losing” category was the “cause” in model 2, but above all, it stands out as a “solution,” since it was proposed for this purpose in models 1, 2, and 3. An example of this solution was proposed by analysts two and nine in model 2. This model predicted a higher chance of receiving a goal-scoring opportunity when the ball was lost in own half and, at the same time, few players were involved in the move; therefore, its duration was reduced.

The team should work to achieve the necessary resources and get organized around the ball to rally as much as possible in the face of possible losses (participant 2).

In addition, another major category under which the psychological or emotional aspects could be organized was “concentration.” It was cited by the analysts as “cause” for three models (1, 3, and 4) and as a “solution” in two models (1 and 3). The interviewees eight and three interpreted that concentration was a “cause” in model 3 of Aguado-Méndez et al. (2020a ). This model predicted that the probability of receiving a goal-scoring opportunity by stealing a ball was two-times as high than by a bad pass due to pressure in the second half.

It may be due to over-relaxation during those minutes. Perhaps the fact of adopting a very horizontal style, pausing a lot when in possession of the ball also led to a lack of energy during the match (participant 8) .

Finally, the “physical aspects” category was the “cause” of the opportunities conceded in two models (2 and 3). An example of why this factor was the origin in model 3 (it related form of loss and minute) was given by analyst four.

As fatigue sets in, players make worse decisions, and a typically bad decision they usually make is that the more tired they are, the more they keep the ball, the more they play 1 against one, and the lesser support they get from their teammates—because they are also tired and that is why it causes those losses. (participant 4) .

The objectives of this study were two-fold: to gather the overall perceptions of the interviewed analysts on the game analysis of their own team and the opponent team, and to analyze the tactical interpretation of the results of a study on goal-scoring opportunities. Regarding the first objective, analysts answered general questions about the analysis of the game of their own team and the opponent team. The content analysis of the responses showed that they believed that the analysis of both their own team and the opponent was important. A total of seven of the nine participants all rated the analysis of the game as “fundamental.” Supporting this “fundamental” nature of the analysis, in recent years, scientific publications have been highlighting match analysis as a way of optimizing the preparation phase of competitions ( Hughes and Franks, 2004 ) and of building an understanding of the complexity of sports ( Brito Souza et al., 2019 ).

The “Understanding of the game” and a “Clear observation methodology” were considered as essential skills for the tactical analysts. This result is consistent with various works that have underscored the key role of disposing of a good observation tool to collect information in a structured way using the predefined categories ( Sarmento et al., 2013b ). The “Phases of the game” and the “Strengths and weaknesses” were regarded as the major aspects to study when analyzing the opponent team. These results support the study of Carling et al. (2008) . In addition, it has been shown that once the coach obtains this data, using this information in mobile sessions helps players to better know and understand their opponent ( Carling et al., 2005 ).

Moreover, within this first objective of understanding the perceptions of analysts, they considered “Goal-scoring opportunities” as the most relevant indicator of match analysis performance. This opinion is in line with the specialized literature that considers that, due to their greater frequency, goal-scoring opportunities are a better indication of football performance than the number of goals ( Reina and Hernández-Mendo, 2012 ; González-Ródenas et al., 2016 ; Pratas et al., 2018 ). Analysts have, however, unanimously considered that no performance indicator is actually useful for coaches if it is included in “overly long reports.” In relation to this problem, Castelo (2009) points to the importance that analysts select the most relevant information, adopting a global perspective, so that it can be useful to prepare for the matches.

Regarding the future of game analysis, participants considered it to be the key to “customize the data” in the future, by adapting it to the characteristics of their own team as well as “predicting opponent behaviors” according to the phase of the game. A number of studies have already been carried out in which different variables have been studied to predict the probability of scoring a goal ( Tenga et al., 2010 ), of being conceded a goal-scoring opportunity ( Aguado-Méndez et al., 2020a ), and the result of the match ( Lago-Peñas et al., 2011 ).

Regarding the second objective, the participants interpreted the predictive models obtained in the study of Aguado-Méndez et al. (2020a ). These models were obtained after analyzing the conceded goal-scoring opportunities of the Real Betis in the Spanish league 2017/2018 according to contextual, defensive, and offensive variables through a validated instrument of observational methodology.

The quantitative data of the predictions found in the mentioned study answer the questions: “what is happening” and “what could happen” in the match. On the other hand, understanding the functional logic of the game plays a major role in match analysis. Therefore, the interpretation made by the interviewees of the causes of those predictive models could help to answer the question of “why they happen” within the style of play of a particular football team.

The network of relationships between “causes” and “solutions” indicated that the “Style of play” was the most decisive category across all the models ( Figure 1 ). Hewitt et al. (2016) define the style of play as a characteristic pattern of a team cutting across all the five moments of the game (offense, offensive transition, defense, defensive transition, and set pieces). Describing and measuring the different styles of play that soccer teams can adopt during a match is a very important step toward a more predictive and prescriptive performance analysis ( Lago-Peñas et al., 2018 ). According to the patterns shown in these five moments of the game, teams can be defined, and associated with the performance indicators ( Fernández-Navarro et al., 2016 ; Gómez-Ruano et al., 2018 ). For analysts, the “cause” in models 1, 3, and 4 ( Table 2 ) was not adapting the “style of play” of this team—that had an associative style—to the contextual variables of the match. The interaction between the contextual variables as the match status and quality of opposition, and venue and quality of opposition were studied by Fernández-Navarro et al. (2018 ) determining its influence in styles of play in soccer match play. Further, in a study that analyzed the style of play of the 20 teams of La Liga in Spain in the 2016–2017 season, Castellano and Pic (2019) concluded that the realities of the competition forced the teams to adapt to contextual variables (opponent, location, position in the classification, etc.) in order to succeed. Consequently, it seems advisable to direct the training toward developing the flexible and adaptable styles of play to intra- and inter-match dynamics. It is thus unsurprising that the participants determined the modification of the “style of play” as a “solution” in the four predictive models, adapting to the opponent and the evolution of the outcome of the match to achieve successful results.

Directly related to the above, the analysts considered the “opponent” category as a major “cause,” as it was the originator in the three models (1, 3, and 4). This latter finding is in accordance with the study of Lago-Peñas (2009 ) that found the opponent team does change the way they play the match according to the minute, result, place, etc., thus succeeding in creating difficulties for the team that does not manage to adapt in the same way. The “Pressure after loss” category, i.e., the defensive transition, stood out as a “solution” in models 1, 2, and 3. The importance of properly performing the defensive transitions was reported in a study conducted on the German Bundesliga. This latter work showed that the best teams regained possession faster than lower-level teams ( Vogelbein et al., 2014 ). In addition, the “concentration” category, which encompasses the psychological or emotional aspects, was a “cause” in three models (models 1, 3, and 4) and a “solution” in models 1 and 3. In this line, the specialized literature has previously shown how psychological factors can affect the performance of football teams ( Pain and Harwood, 2007 ).

Finally, the “Physical aspects” category was the “cause” of the goal-scoring opportunities conceded in models 2 and 3. Indeed, this category affects the ball action accuracy as well as decision-making, because it reduces the precision of ball actions and dexterity generally. The review by Alghannam (2012) shows how physical performance decreases throughout the match due to accumulated fatigue. However, a recent study shows that if we consider effective time (i.e., not counting interruptions) rather than total playing time, the differences in terms of distances traveled at different speeds are much smaller between the first and second half of the match ( Rey et al., 2020 ). In addition, the distance traveled at a high intensity (21–24 km/h) and sprint (>24 km/h) between the first and second part of the match depends on the demarcation, with midfielders and attackers decreasing their performance in the second half. Therefore, fatigue could explain the increase in ball inaccuracy as well as the worse decision-making of the players. But it would be incorrect to conclude that a cause-and-effect relationship exists between these factors. In any event, the contributions of qualitative studies based on the opinions of football professionals are essential to build an understanding of the quantitative data, not only regarding the “physical aspects” category, but also the functional logic of the game, globally ( Wright et al., 2014 , 2016 ; Sarmento et al., 2015 , 2020 ).

Conclusions

The objectives of the present study were first, to explore the general perceptions of the analysis of own team as well as of the opponent team, and second, to analyze the tactical interpretation of the quantitative data based on a study on conceded goal-scoring opportunities. The analysts who participated in this study found that it was fundamental to analyze their own team and the opponent team. Indeed, the “Understanding of the game” and a “Clear observation methodology” represented essential skills that tactical analysts need to put into practice. From these results, we emphasize the rigor and systematization that should characterize the observation phase in order to detect patterns of behavior of our own team and of our opponents, with the aim of intervening afterward through the training for the preparation of the match. In addition, the causes and/or solutions that the surveyed analysts attributed to some of the predictive models of the case under study were: adaptability of the “Style of play” itself to the “Opponent”; and “Pressure after loss.” Therefore, a style of play that is able to adapt to the opponent, contextual factors, and adequate pressure after losing the ball have been considered key aspects to optimize the performance of a team.

Data Availability Statement

The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors, without undue reservation.

Ethics Statement

The studies involving human participants were reviewed and approved by Ethics Committee of the Research Center of Sport Sciences at University Pablo de Olavide, based at Seville (Spain) and conformed to the recommendations of the Declaration of Helsinki. The patients/participants provided their written informed consent to participate in this study.

Author Contributions

RA-M: conceptualization, formal analysis, and visualization. RA-M and FO-S: methodology, investigation, and writing—original draft preparation. JG-J and RA-M: software. ÁR-G and FO-S: validation, resources, writing—review and editing, and data curation. FO-S and JG-J: resources and writing—review and editing. JG-J: supervision. ÁR-G: project administration. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Conflict of Interest

ÁR-G was employed by football club “Watford Football Club”.

The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher's Note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Supplementary Material

The Supplementary Material for this article can be found online at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.735167/full#supplementary-material

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Keywords: match analysis, coaches, qualitative research, style of play, tactics

Citation: Aguado-Méndez RD, González-Jurado JA, Reina-Gómez Á and Otero-Saborido FM (2021) Perceptions of Football Analysts Goal-Scoring Opportunity Predictions: A Qualitative Case Study. Front. Psychol. 12:735167. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.735167

Received: 02 July 2021; Accepted: 04 August 2021; Published: 06 September 2021.

Reviewed by:

Copyright © 2021 Aguado-Méndez, González-Jurado, Reina-Gómez and Otero-Saborido. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Rubén D. Aguado-Méndez, rubend10am@hotmail.com

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Science and football: evaluating the influence of science on performance

Affiliation.

• 1 The Football Exchange/Research Institute for Sport and Exercise Sciences, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool UK. [email protected]
• PMID: 23978109
• DOI: 10.1080/02640414.2013.828544

The scientific study of football has its origins in the early research completed in the 1970's. Since these early efforts the available scientific knowledge base related to football has developed substantially. The ability of this scientific information to influence practice in the day-to-day activity of football organisations, especially elite teams, has been largely taken for granted. The close examination of this impact can lead to more uncertainty regarding the usefulness of the scientific data to the sport. Few articles are available that have attempted to critique the link between science and football practice. As such, the aims of this article are 2-fold; (i) to examine the historical background to "science and football" and to analyse the influence of sports science research on the current practice of coaches and practitioners within the sport and (ii) to identify potential ways to increase the influence of scientific research on practice in the "real world".

Publication types

• Historical Article
• Athletic Performance*
• History, 20th Century
• History, 21st Century
• Soccer* / history

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The 50 Most Cited Papers Pertaining to American Football: Analysis of Studies From the Past 40 Years

Anna s. jenkins.

* Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Scottsdale, Arizona, USA.

Michael L. Moore

Jordan r. pollock, joseph c. brinkman.

† Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Mayo Clinic, Phoenix, Arizona, USA.

Jens Verhey

Anikar chhabra, background:.

Bibliometric citation analyses have been widely used in medicine to help researchers gain foundational knowledge about a topic and identify subtopics of popular interest for further investigations.

To identify the 50 most cited research publications related to American football.

Study Design:

Cross-sectional study.

The Clarivate Analytics Web of Science database was used to generate a list of publications relating to football. Articles were filtered by the total number of citations, and the top 50 most cited articles studying the sport of football were selected for this analysis. Articles were analyzed by author, publication year, country of origin, institution affiliation, journal, article type, main research topic area, competitive level, and the level of evidence. A total of 247 articles were reviewed to reach the top 50 articles.

The most studied topic within the top 50 articles was concussion/chronic traumatic encephalopathy (n = 40). Collegiate football was the most studied level of competition (n = 25). The journal publishing the greatest number of top articles was Neurosurgery. Two institutions, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Boston University School of Medicine, produced over one-third of top 50 articles (n = 18).

Conclusion:

Our analysis indicated that most of the top 50 publications related to the sport of football focused on concussion and CTE, were observational, and were published during or after 2000. The most studied level of competition was collegiate football.

Football is America’s most popular sport, in both participation and fandom. 84 - 86 , 90 The most of any sport, football has more than 1 million high school and 40,000 college participants, and National Football League games consisted of 75 of the 100 most watched telecasts in the United States in 2021. 45 , 84 , 85 Despite its popularity, football results in more catastrophic injuries and fatalities than any other American sport. 51 Football-related injuries account for roughly 380,474 emergency department visits in youth aged less than 25 annually. 100 As awareness of football-related injuries has grown, national attention has fallen on the corresponding long-term negative impacts on player health. 40 , 55

The growing concern surrounding football-related injuries has further increased demand for research to understand injury risk factors and prevention. Topics of research relating to football are broad, ranging from performance to injury-related topics 4 , 17 , 56 , 107 to social and political issues. 38 , 101 , 103 With such a wide scope of research, it has become difficult to identify the most significant and impactful findings relating to football injuries. Bibliometric analyses provide a way to condense this ever-growing research, as articles with a greater number of citations are often considered the most influential in a field, and bibliometric citation analyses provide quantitative representation of an article’s impact. 1 , 16 , 27 , 28 , 95 Bibliometric citation analyses help researchers to focus on the most impactful scientific articles, build foundational knowledge, and identify areas for future work. They have been widely used in medicine, § medical education, 6 biomechanics, 49 ecology, 110 biotechnology, 25 and various other fields. 5 , 22 , 66

The purpose of this study was to identify the 50 most frequently cited research publications related to the sport of American football. Because of the increasing national interest and debate surrounding injuries in football and player long-term well-being, we hypothesized that the majority of publications relating to football would be in the field of medicine.

The present study was deemed minimal risk and exempt from institutional review board approval, as analysis was conducted on publicly available data. The Clarivate Analytics Web of Knowledge database was utilized to query journal articles and their respective citation metrics. A similar study design and data analysis protocol was followed as previously described in other peer-reviewed studies conducting bibliometric analyses on orthopaedic topics. 2 , 10 , 11 , 15 , 41 , 57 , 83 , 106 No citation tracking service is perfect and all-inclusive; however, the Clarivate Analytics Web of Knowledge database represents a trusted, highly extensive database that archives over 21,000 peer-reviewed journals, including 1.9 billion cited references from more than 171 million records globally. 99 Additionally, articles dating back all the way to 1900 are included in the database and its citation tracking. This database has previously received recognition for its high-quality citation links, citation accuracy, comprehensive and wide-reaching journal coverage, and consistent use by numerous previous citation analyses. 9 , 108

The Clarivate Analytics Web of Knowledge database was queried on April 14, 2022, for all article titles, abstracts, and keywords including the term “football.” No restrictions on language, journal, date, or country of origin were placed. The initial query resulted in a total of 23,573 articles, which were subsequently arranged in descending order based on the total number of citations they had accumulated. Then, the title and abstract of each article were reviewed to determine its relevance and potential inclusion into the top 50 most cited list. For inclusion, the article in question had to specifically enroll football players at any competitive level into their research study or review. Studies analyzing >1 sport were considered if football was included and was a primary focus of discussion in the paper. If inclusion of a study was in question, the full article was obtained and reviewed independently by 2 authors (J.R.P. and M.L.M.) to decide on inclusion or exclusion. If the authors could not agree, the senior author (A.C.) determined whether or not the article was included. Articles with only a peripheral mention of football in their methods or discussion were excluded. Additionally, articles that studied football (soccer) were excluded.

A total of 247 articles were reviewed to reach the 50 most cited studies that met the inclusion criteria outlined above. The full text for the 50 included studies was obtained and reviewed in order to obtain the following pieces of information: first and last author name, publication year, country of origin (determined by the affiliation of the first author), institutional affiliation (of both the first author and last author), journal name, study type, primary research topic area (concussion/chronic traumatic encephalopathy [CTE], physiology, biomechanics, nutrition, microbiology, training and testing, sports medicine, performance analysis, sports psychology, coaching, and social science), level of competition (high school, college, and/or professional), and level of evidence. Articles were designated as a review article if they incorporated a systematic approach to reviewing the literature or if a meta-analysis was performed. If an article incorporated the results and discussion of previously published literature, but a systematic approach to reviewing the literature was not outlined, the article was classified as expert opinion. Additionally, an article was categorized as being either medical or nonmedical based on whether the focus of the study involved the treatment, assessment, rehabilitation, classification, or diagnosis of medical pathology. Epidemiologic studies that assessed injury or medical condition prevalence or incidence were included. If an article did employ ≥1 of the above focuses in its design, it was categorized as nonmedical (eg, biomechanics, sports performance, exercise testing, etc). The level of evidence was assigned to each article based on the guidelines published by the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine. 43

Once the top 50 most cited articles were identified and the above information was extracted for each study, summary statistics were calculated. These calculations included the total number of citations and the total number of publications accumulated each year and the total number of articles representing a specific study type, level of evidence, and field of research. Additionally, the most cited and most represented first/last authors, countries of origin, publishing journal, and academic institutions were calculated. The citation density of each article was also calculated by taking the total number of citations divided by the number of years since publication.

The 50 most cited publications related to football are listed in Appendix Table A1 , along with their rank, number of citations, and citation density. The number of citations per article ranged from 213 to 1434, and 7 articles were cited over 1000 times. The mean number of citations per articles was 419, and the median was 329. The average citation density was 25.8 (range, 10.7-102.4).

Descriptive characteristics of the top 50 articles are shown in Table 1 . Of the top 50 articles relating to football, 46 related to medicine, with 40 articles focusing on concussion or CTE and 6 on sports medicine. The next most common topic was microbiology (n = 2), follwed by sports psychology (n = 1), and training and testing (n = 1). All articles were published in the United States. Over half of the top 50 most cited articles were cohort studies (n = 26), and 11 were descriptive studies. Most of the top 50 articles relating to football focused on 1 specific level of competition, with 16 publications focusing on college football, 14 on professional, and 10 on high school. One article studied both high school and professional football, 4 studied high school and college, and 5 studied all 3 levels. College was the most well-studied level of competition, with half of the top 50 articles including college football in their analysis (n = 25).

Descriptive Characteristics of Top 50 Most Cited Articles Relating to Football

The top 50 articles were all published between 1976 and 2017 ( Figure 1 ). When analyzing which years produced the top-cited publications, we included ranking by citation density as well as number of citations to address the factor of time to accrue citations. The top 5 articles ranked by citation density were published between 2007 and 2013, whereas the top 5 articles ranked by number or citation were published between 1976 and 2017. Of the top 50 articles, 19 were published between 2003 and 2007, and 39 of the top 50 were published in 2000 or later. The number of citations each of the top 50 articles received per year ranged from 0 (in 1981) to 2301 (in 2019) ( Figure 2 ).

Number of top 50 most cited articles relating to American football published by year.

Total number of citations generated by the top 50 most cited articles relating to American football each year.

The majority of the 50 most cited articles had an evidence level of either 2 (n = 11), 3 (n = 18), or 4 (n = 19) ( Figure 3 ). Level 1 (n = 1) and level 5 (n = 1) research comprised less than 4% of top publications.

The level of evidence of the top 50 most cited articles relating to American football.

When assessing author impact, we found that 14 authors published ≥1 of the 50 most cited articles relating to football. Table 2 further breaks down author impact, listing each of these 14 authors’ total number of publications, first author publications, last author publications, total number of citations, and average number of citations per publication. The most prolific author within our analysis was Kevin M. Guskiewicz, with the greatest number of total citations (4113) and publications (n = 6). The affiliated institutions for the first author and last author of the top 50 articles are presented in Table 3 . The 2 institutions publishing the greatest number of top 50 articles were the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Boston University School of Medicine, each with 9 publications.

Descriptive Data of Authors Publishing 2 or More of the Top 50 Most Cited Articles Relating to American Football

Institutions of First and Last Authors of Top 50 Most Cited Articles Relating to American Football

Regarding publication source, the top 50 most cited articles were published in 20 different journals ( Table 4 ). The journal publishing the greatest proportion of top 50 articles was Neurosurgery (n = 9). The next 3 journals with the most publications within the top 50 articles were the Journal of Athletic Training (n = 6), Journal of the American Medical Association (n = 6), and American Journal of Sports Medicine (n = 5). All of the articles published by Neurosurgery and the Journal of the American Medical Association focused on CTE/concussion; half published by the Journal of Athletic Training focused on CTE/concussion. The majority of articles (n = 28) were not open access journals, compared with 22 that were open access.

The Publishing Journals of the 50 Most Highly Cited Articles Relating to American Football

As hypothesized, the majority of highly cited publications on American football were medicine related and focused on injuries, although we did not hypothesize that the majority of studied injuries would pertain to concussion and CTE. The major findings of our research showed that of the top 50 publications, 46 (92%) were in the field of medicine, with 40 (80%) studying concussion or CTE. The predominance of concussion and CTE research reflects increasing awareness and concern surrounding head injury in football. 39 , 69 A review of the publications included in our analysis may help physicians, physical therapists, athletic trainers, and coaches who work with football players to establish foundational knowledge on injury prevention recommendations and treatment guidelines.

The top-cited article in our analysis had 1434 citations, studied concussion and CTE, and was published in 2009. 76 In comparison, a recent bibliometric analysis of concussion-related publications found that the top article was cited 3204 times and was published in 2022. 102 Additionally, we found a mean of 419 citations per article, while the mean citation frequency of top concussion-related publications was reportedly 1033. 18 We postulate that articles in our analysis accrued fewer citations than top concussion-related publications because of a narrower focus on concussions related to football.

Our finding that all top 50 articles were published within the United States is expected given football’s predominantly American domain and is consistent with findings previously reported by Sharma and Lawrence 102 regarding popular concussion literature. As with other bibliometric analyses relating to sports medicine, the majority of our studies were observational, with 48 (96%) of 50 publications having level 2, 3, or 4 evidence. 47

Collegiate football was the most studied level of competition among the top football-related publications. This is somewhat unexpected, given the predominance of competitive football players at the high school level compared with the collegiate level (1 million and 40,000, respectively). 84 , 85 Our findings may suggest a study bias toward higher-level players and indicate the need for additional research on youth and high school football, especially considering differences in the neural development of younger players, which likely alters injury prevention strategies and treatment practices. The discrepancy between participation rates and the focus of top publications may also reflect differences in funding, with higher-level football attracting more funding for research. Alternatively, it is possible that higher-level players are more studied because of logistical advantages of injury surveillance. Additionally, concussion and CTE are cumulative injuries that become more deleterious as frequency of injury occurs, often presenting later in one’s career (or even postmortem, when CTE cases are confirmed), and therefore more easily studied in older players.

The present analysis revealed that 19 (38%) of the top 50 most cited articles were published between 2003 and 2007, and the top 5 articles by citation density were each published in or after 2007. More recent works have had greater influence in football-related research based on citation density, as public awareness of football-related injuries aligns with an exponential increase in concussion-related research between 2000 and 2020. 102 There has been a shift of national attention on the risks of brain injury specifically in the sport of football; although participation in football has always been associated with an increased risk of concussion, awareness of football-related head injury rapidly increased in the 21st century, a phenomenon that has been termed “the first concussion crisis.” 40 The publications identified in our analysis may have contributed to increased national awareness of football-related head injury; they may also have been a product of media attention on football injury. Our finding that the top 5 articles by citation density were published between 2007 and 2017 may reflect the increase in national awareness of and subsequent concern over football-related injuries that occurred in the early 2000s. 30 , 39 , 40

Kevin M. Guskiewicz from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Michael McCrea from the Medical College of Wisconsin were the top 2 authors in the football-related injury literature. 33 , 34 - 36 , 37 , 39 , 71 – 75 At the institutional level, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Boston University School of Medicine were the 2 most proliferative institutions in football injury research. Both institutions had >1 primary author producing top articles, and together these 2 institutions contributed over one-third of the top 50 publications. As bibliometric analyses provide insight into which authors and institutions are most prominent in a particular field, our findings suggest the dominance of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Boston University School of Medicine in football research. 28 , 29 , 60 , 61 It is also important to consider, however, that most of the top-cited publications studied neuro-related injuries and may have come from investigators whose work specialized in this area. 33 – 37 , 71 – 75 As such, in building upon their prior research, these investigators may often cite their prior publications and publications from their own institution. Additionally, certain institutions may have more research funding and larger departments, particularly if orthopaedic/football research is a priority of the institution.

Evaluating journal impact on football-related research, Neurosurgery was the journal with the most publications in the top 50, followed by the Journal of Athletic Training and Journal of the American Medical Association. The articles published by these journals predominantly focused on CTE and concussion, the most highly studied topic. As citation analysis has been used to evaluate journal impact, students and practitioners seeking to remain at the cutting edge of football injury literature may focus their attention on these journals. 28 , 29 Furthermore, journals that published multiple top publications were exclusively journals with a focus on medical topics, an unsurprising finding given that the overwhelming majority (92%) of published articles in our analysis were medicine related. While the majority of articles were not open access, a significant portion (44%) were, likely lowering barriers to readership and subsequent citation of their publications.

While our analysis indicates areas that are particularly well studied relating to football, it also highlights a few gaps in the current literature. One gap is in the study of injuries unrelated to CTE and head injury: below-the-head injuries occur frequently and, as with concussion and CTE, can cause significant and long-term disability to players. Research relating to the prevention and treatment of these injuries merits attention. Additionally, future research may focus on innovations in faster and safer injury rehabilitation.

Limitations

The top 50 publications were selected by number of accrued citations, a metric that may be influenced by a variety of factors, including research funding disparities by competition level, positive outcome bias, time since publication date, institutional prestige, and dissemination bias. Therefore, while citation frequency is an indicator of article importance, it should not be used as the sole determinant of study quality or study influence on injury protocols and clinical practice. Citation density accounts for time elapsed since study publication date and was included in our analysis to assess article citation frequency equitably across time. Another limitation of our work is the exclusion of the newest publications, a shortcoming of all bibliometric analyses, as newer publications are not allowed adequate time to accrue citations. Often, studies reach prominence several years after their initial publication date. 28 A final limitation is our use of only 1 database. While the database utilized in the present study is commonly employed in bibliometric analyses, other databases may yield slightly different findings. 2 , 10 , 11 , 15 , 41 , 57 , 83 Other commonly utilized databases include PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar. 9 , 26 , 52

Our analysis indicated that most publications related to American football focused on concussion and CTE, were observational, and were published during or after 2000. The most studied level of competition was college. Our list of the top 50 most cited studies provides researchers, medical students, residents, and fellows with a foundational list of the most important and influential academic contributions to the literature on American football.

Appendix Table A1

The Top 50 Most Cited Articles Relating to American Football

§ References 3 , 7 , 8 , 13 , 27 , 32 , 44 , 53 , 54 , 59 , 63 , 78 , 81 , 82 .

Final revision submitted August 28, 2022; accepted September 15, 2022.

One or more of the authors has declared the following potential conflict of interest or source of funding: A.C. has received education payments from Arthrex and consulting fees from Zimmer Biomet. AOSSM checks author disclosures against the Open Payments Database (OPD). AOSSM has not conducted an independent investigation on the OPD and disclaims any liability or responsibility relating thereto.

Ethical approval was not sought for the present study.

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By a wide margin, Americans say football – not baseball – is ‘America’s sport’

Baseball is known as “America’s favorite pastime.” But for the largest share of the U.S. public, football is “America’s sport,” according to a recent Pew Research Center survey.

In August 2023, we asked nearly 12,000 U.S. adults the following question: “If you had to choose one sport as being ‘America’s sport,’ even if you don’t personally follow it, which sport would it be?” The question was part of a broader survey about sports fandom in the United States .

More than half of Americans (53%) say America’s sport is football – about twice the share who say it’s baseball (27%). Much smaller shares choose one of the other four sports we asked about: basketball (8%), soccer (3%), auto racing (3%) or hockey (1%).

We also included the option for Americans to write in another sport. The most common answers volunteered were golf, boxing, rodeo and ice skating. Other respondents used the opportunity to have some fun: Among the more creative answers we received were “competitive eating,” “grievance politics,” “reality TV” and “cow tipping.”

Ahead of Super Bowl LVIII on Feb. 11, Pew Research Center conducted this analysis to find out which sport Americans see as the country’s sport.

This analysis is based on a survey of 11,945 U.S. adults conducted Aug. 7-27, 2023. Everyone who took part is a member of the Center’s American Trends Panel (ATP), an online survey panel that is recruited through national, random sampling of residential addresses. Address-based sampling ensures that nearly all U.S. adults have a chance of selection. The survey is weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, education and other categories. Read more about the ATP’s methodology .

Here is the question used for this analysis , along with responses, and the survey methodology .

In every demographic group, football tops the list

In every major demographic group, football is the most common choice when the public is asked to identify America’s sport. It tops the list for men and women, for older and younger adults, and for White, Black, Hispanic and Asian Americans alike.

Still, some demographic differences emerge for certain sports. For instance, White Americans are more likely than other racial or ethnic groups to say the national sport is baseball, while Hispanic Americans are more likely than other groups to say it’s soccer. Black and Asian Americans, in turn, are more likely than White and Hispanic Americans to say America’s sport is basketball. In each of these racial and ethnic groups, however, by far the largest share of people say the national sport is football.

Most Americans don’t closely follow sports

Just because Americans see football as the national sport doesn’t mean they’ve been closely following the NFL season leading up to this weekend’s Super Bowl LVIII.

Most U.S. adults (62%) say they follow professional or college sports not too or not at all closely , and a similar share (63%) say they talk about sports with other people just a few times a month or less often, according to the Center’s August survey. In fact, only 7% of adults are what might be called sports “superfans” – people who follow sports extremely or very closely and talk about sports with other people at least every day.

Note: Here is the question used for this analysis , along with responses, and the survey methodology .

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• Published: 21 September 2020

Reducing Injuries in Soccer (Football): an Umbrella Review of Best Evidence Across the Epidemiological Framework for Prevention

• Oluwatoyosi B. A. Owoeye   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-5984-9821 1 , 2 ,
• Mitchell J. VanderWey 1 &
• Ian Pike 3 , 4  

Sports Medicine - Open volume  6 , Article number:  46 ( 2020 ) Cite this article

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Soccer is the most popular sport in the world. Expectedly, the incidence of soccer-related injuries is high and these injuries exert a significant burden on individuals and families, including health and financial burdens, and on the socioeconomic and healthcare systems. Using established injury prevention frameworks, we present a concise synthesis of the most recent scientific evidence regarding injury rates, characteristics, mechanisms, risk and protective factors, interventions for prevention, and implementation of interventions in soccer. In this umbrella review, we elucidate the most recent available evidence gleaned primarily from systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Further, we express the exigent need to move current soccer injury prevention research evidence into action for improved player outcomes and widespread impact through increased attention to dissemination and implementation research. Additionally, we highlight the importance of an enabling context and effective implementation strategies for the successful integration of evidence-based injury prevention programs into real-world soccer settings. This narrative umbrella review provides guidance to inform future research, practice, and policy towards reducing injuries among soccer players.

This review provides a one-stop evidence reference regarding the prevention of soccer injuries, including evidence and perspectives on the implementation of proven interventions.

Overall evidence supports the use of the 11+ neuromuscular training warm-up and focused strength training, and there is emerging evidence for load management programs to mitigate injury risk among soccer players.

Theory-driven dissemination and implementation studies are needed to improve the adoption, adherence, appropriate adaptation, scale-up, and sustainment of evidence-based injury prevention interventions in soccer.

The findings from this review provide guidance to inform future research, practice, and policy towards reducing injuries among soccer players.

Soccer (football) is the most popular sport in the world [ 1 ], with some 270 million involved in the sport worldwide in 2006 [ 2 ]. For approximately 110,000, it is a profession and thus a source of income; for some 38 million registered players, it is a team game organized within leagues and competitions; and for about 226 million others, it is an enjoyable exercise surrogate for fitness and health [ 2 ]. The health benefits of soccer as “medicinal exercise” are well documented, for example, improved cardiovascular health, mental health, and bone health [ 3 ]. However, there is a paradoxical negative effect of soccer on health when players get injured (e.g., obesity or post-traumatic osteoarthritis after an anterior cruciate ligament injury) [ 4 , 5 ]. Furthermore, soccer injuries exert a significant burden on socioeconomic and healthcare systems [ 6 ]. Founded on established epidemiological frameworks describing the sequence of research steps to effective injury prevention practice [ 7 , 8 ]—from identifying injury rates to the implementation of effective interventions—we present a narrative umbrella review that articulates best available evidence to inform guidelines, practice, and policy towards mitigating the risk of injuries in soccer, and in turn maximizing the benefits of participation among individuals.

To achieve the above-mentioned purpose, we conducted methodical searches across five databases (MEDLINE, SPORTDiscus, PsycINFO, CINAHL, and Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews) from January 2010 to January 2020 to identify all systematic reviews, meta-analyses, reviews, and original research (where limited or no reviews were available) across soccer injury studies that investigated injury incidence, characteristics, mechanisms, risk and protective factors, interventions for prevention, and implementation and evaluation of interventions. A summary of the search records for our primary source of data (systematic and narrative reviews) is presented in Table 1 , and details of the search terms used—key concepts and search words—are presented in an additional file ( Supplementary File ). Our search strategy involved the use of relevant search descriptors of “OR” and “AND” to combine search/key words and key concepts, respectively, after each search word was exploded (exp) to capture all literature possible. Search records were limited to articles with full text, written in the English language, and relating to humans. The same methodology was used to obtain primary research articles where no reviews were available.

Injury Rates

Injury incidence among soccer players differs across levels of participation, age, type of exposure, and sex. The incidence of injuries in soccer is mostly significant during games/matches, ranging from 9.5 to 48.7 injuries/1000 h among competitive male youth players, 2.5 to 8.7 injuries/1000 h among male professional players, and 12.5 to 30.3 injuries/1000 h among female players [ 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 ] (Table 2 ). The incidence of injuries appears higher among males vs. females, and injury incidence is higher during games/matches vs. practice/training for all participation categories, among both male and female players [ 10 , 11 , 12 ]. Soccer players younger than 12 years of age have a lower injury rate (1.0–1.6 injuries per 1000 h) compared to older players [ 9 ].

Injury Location and Type

Most soccer injuries occur in the lower limbs (60–90%), especially the ankle, knee, and thigh [ 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 ]. Among male players, the most common injuries affect the hamstring muscles followed by the ankle, knee, and groin [ 11 , 13 ]. Comparably, among female players, knee and ankle injuries are the most common, followed by thigh/hamstring injuries [ 10 , 13 ].

Thigh, Knee, and Ankle Injuries

Most thigh injuries result from strains with a high proportion of hamstring injuries, despite quadriceps injuries leading to longer absence from play [ 15 ]. The prevalence and history of hamstring injury is greater among adult professional players (40%) compared to under-20 players (18%) [ 16 ]. Up to 18% of severe soccer injuries presenting at hospital emergency departments involve the knee [ 17 ]. One such injury involves the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). The ACL injury rate among females (2.0/10,000 athlete exposures) is 2.2 times higher than that of males (0.9/10,000 athlete exposures), independent of participation level [ 18 ]. Ankle injuries account for up to 20% of all soccer injuries with ankle sprains constituting 77% of all ankle injuries [ 14 , 19 ].

The prevalence of concussion in youth soccer appears to be relatively low with an incidence of 0.19 (95% CI 0.16–0.21) concussions per 1000 athletic exposures and 0.27 (95% CI 0.24–0.30) concussions per 1000 athletic exposures among male and female players, respectively [ 20 ]. A higher concussion incidence has been consistently reported among females [ 10 , 20 ].

Injury Mechanisms

Overall, about two-thirds of soccer injuries are traumatic and the other one-third (27–33%) are caused by overuse [ 11 , 12 , 21 ]. These findings are based on a medical attention/time-loss injury definition, and emerging evidence from studies using an all-complaint injury definition suggests that overuse onset injuries may be as prevalent as acute onset injuries [ 22 ]. About two-thirds of traumatic injuries are contact injuries, of which 12–28% are caused by foul play. Notably, non-contact injuries account for 26–58% of all injuries [ 13 , 21 ]. Injuries occur primarily during the initial or final 15 min of the match, indicating the significance of an appropriate warm-up and the effects of fatigue on players [ 23 ].

Risk and Protective Factors

Non-modifiable risk factors, player position.

Goalkeepers are at a lower overall risk of injury compared to outfield players in the male game [ 24 ]. Independent of goalkeepers, current evidence is inconsistent regarding the association between player position and injury risk; however, it appears that strikers may be at a greater risk as compared with other outfield players during matches [ 24 ].

Previous Injury

A history of previous injury continues to be the most consistent and strongest risk factor for future injury, and this also holds true for specific injuries [ 9 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 ]. For example, a history of previous hamstring injury is associated with future hamstring injury among male players [ 25 , 28 ], previous ACL injury is associated with risk of future ACL injury [ 29 ], and previous ankle sprain injury is related to the emergence of new ankle sprain injuries [ 27 ].

Current evidence regarding age as a risk factor for soccer injury is limited. One systematic review suggested that increasing age was a risk factor for future hamstring injury among male players [ 25 ]. Another systematic review concluded that existing literature was insufficient to infer any relationship between age and the risk of ACL injury among soccer players [ 29 ]. In a single prospective study, age > 14 years was a significant risk factor for future acute knee injury among female players [ 30 ].

Familial predisposition for ACL injury is associated with increased risk of ACL injury and acute knee injury [ 29 , 30 ].

Overall, the incidence of injuries is higher among males vs. females [ 10 , 11 ]; however, female sex is associated with increased ACL injury risk [ 29 ].

Competitive Setting

Game exposure demonstrated increased injury risk compared to practice for both male and female soccer players [ 29 , 31 ]. Furthermore, within the practice setting, the risk of injury is higher for scrimmage compared to normal practice and walk-through [ 29 ].

Shoe-Surface Interaction

Current research suggests there is an association between higher shoe-surface interaction and increased ACL injury risk [ 29 ].

Pre-season Knee Complaints

Females presenting with pre-season knee complaints appear to be at increased risk for acute knee injury during the season [ 30 ].

Early Sport Specialization

Though there is a lack of substantive evidence for soccer specifically, early sport specialization has been found to be associated with a greater risk for overuse injuries across multiple youth sports [ 9 ]. One study showed that female soccer players 12–15 years of age playing on more than one team had increased risk for lower extremity overuse injuries [ 32 ].

Growth and Leg Length

Elite male youth soccer players are at greater risk for traumatic injury in the year of peak height velocity [ 33 ]. A recent prospective study of male soccer players aged 10–12 years shows an association between an increase in leg length throughout the season and risk for overuse injury [ 34 ]. The same study suggests an association between longer leg length and risk of overuse injury among male soccer players aged 13–15 years. Additionally, they found a higher weight and a decreased growth rate to be associated with an increased risk of acute injury.

Modifiable Risk Factors

Evidence regarding load-injury relationships among soccer players is still emerging as reviews remain sparse in this area of inquiry. Current evidence across team sports indicates that load, in terms of player exposure and/or exertion, could either be an independent protective or risk factor for injury, depending on whether load administration is optimal and progressive or suboptimal (e.g., load spike), respectively, and that this relationship is likely moderated by other risk factors for injury [ 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 ]. Prospective studies showed that a high amount of absolute (accumulated or cumulative) load, based on different calculations of load measures (e.g., 1-weekly, 2-weekly), was associated with greater risk of injury among elite youth and professional soccer players [ 39 , 40 , 41 ]. These findings suggest that it may be expedient to have an absolute load threshold, for example, weekly load threshold, to further mitigate injury risk in soccer, especially youth soccer [ 39 , 40 ]. Altogether, available evidence suggests that avoiding a spike in load (e.g., the acute to chronic workload ratio) is associated with less soccer injuries [ 39 , 40 , 41 ].

Neuromuscular Factors

Hamstring/quadriceps strength ratio imbalance is a key risk factor for hamstring muscle injury; specifically, decreased hamstring strength relative to quadriceps strength is a risk factor for knee ligamentous injuries in both male and female youth soccer players [ 29 , 42 ]. Decreased single leg hop distance is also associated with increased hamstring injury risk [ 43 ]. While current evidence is inconclusive for muscle strength asymmetry (i.e., right vs. left) as a risk factor, eccentric hamstring strength asymmetry is specifically indicated as a key predictor of injury among male youth soccer players [ 26 ]. Furthermore, eccentric hamstring strength (< 256 N) and single leg hamstring bridge scores of less than 20 reps on the right leg are associated with increased risk of hamstring strain [ 43 ]. Poor landing mechanics, specifically, increased dynamic knee valgus, is associated with increased risk for lower limb injury, including ACL injury [ 9 , 42 , 43 ]. Leg dominance and leg asymmetry also relates to increased risk of injury; a difference of 15% or greater, between an individual’s dominant and non-dominant limb, has been shown to predict future injury [ 42 ]. An asymmetry of greater than 4 cm on the anterior reach portion of the Y-balance test places athletes at 2.5 times greater risk for injury among male youth soccer players [ 42 , 43 ]. Hip external rotation strength scores using handheld dynamometry of less than 18% of the individual’s body weight is associated with lower extremity and back injuries [ 43 ]. Additionally, the literature suggests that the risk of injury may increase with altered neuromuscular firing during dynamic movements like cutting or landing, and dynamic stability deficits may increase lower extremity injury risk for male youth soccer players [ 42 ].

Protective Factors

Although mention of protective factors in review level evidence did not exist at the time of this evidence review, findings from original research previously described (under modifiable risk factors) signify load management as a viable target for mitigating injury risk in soccer. For example, an in-season relative load measure of acute to chronic workload ratio of 1 to 1.25 significantly reduced injuries among youth players [ 40 ], and a reduced absolute load significantly reduced injuries among youth and adult professional players [ 39 , 40 ]. Additionally, current evidence suggests that improved neuromuscular capacity and control, including increased quadriceps, hamstring, hip flexor strength, and movement control are protective against injuries among soccer players [ 9 , 26 , 29 , 42 , 43 ].

Opportunities for Prevention

Effective interventions.

Drawing from available evidence regarding modifiable risk factors and protective factors for soccer injuries, injury prevention experts have developed and tested interventions for reducing musculoskeletal injuries in soccer. There is extensive high-quality evidence (including two reviews of systematic reviews) showing the clinical effectiveness of exercise-based interventions in the form of neuromuscular training (NMT) warm-up programs in reducing all soccer-related injuries across sex, ages, and skill levels. Specifically, the 11+ (formerly called the FIFA 11+) warm-up program reduces overall injury rate (i.e., all injuries) by 30 to 47% [ 23 , 44 , 45 , 46 ], lower limb injury rate by 39 to 44% [ 44 , 45 ], overuse injury rate by 55%, and knee injury rate by 52% [ 47 ]. Emerging evidence also suggests that the 11+ Kids (a version for children under 12 years old) is efficacious (48% reduction for all injuries) for reducing injuries in younger players [ 48 ]. Additionally, the “Knee Injury Prevention Program” (KIPP) has the potential to significantly reduce non-contact lower limb injury and overuse injury among young female soccer players by 50% and 56%, respectively [ 47 ].

In a recent systematic review, the application of a variety of exercise-based injury prevention programs for youth players was found to reduce injury rates by up to 46% [ 49 ]. Furthermore, the risk of hamstring injuries can be reduced by up to 51% when the Nordic Hamstring exercise is implemented in isolation [ 50 ]. A recent meta-analysis showed that ankle injuries can be reduced by as much as 40% [ 51 ] and a meta-analysis of meta-analyses [ 52 ] demonstrated that a 50% reduction can be achieved for all ACL injuries in a heterogeneous sample of athletes, including soccer players, when NMT warm-up is implemented.

Specific instructions on how to perform aforementioned NMT warm-up programs can be found in the International Olympic Committee’s “Get Set” app, an innovative and accessible mobile app that provides continued access to illustrative and video information regarding effective sport- and body-specific NMT warm-up programs, including the 11+ program. The 11+ program can also be accessed from the following website: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSJIp7e7fyY

Although concussions are not frequent in soccer, sustaining a concussion may present severe and lasting negative health consequences [ 53 ]. It is important for coaches, parents, and administrators to be aware of concussion signs and symptoms and know what to do if concussion is suspected. For concussion prevention, there is evidence that education about concussion among key stakeholders, e.g., coaches, referees, and parents, can reduce the incidence of concussion and facilitate improved outcomes [ 54 ]. Interventions for primary (e.g., rule change and avoiding a slippery playing surface) and secondary (e.g., concussion recognition and decision on return to playtime) prevention are mainly informational for coaches and parents/guardians. A popular evidence-based educational tool is the Concussion Awareness Training Tool, available at https://cattonline.com .

Cost-Effectiveness of Interventions

Literature regarding the cost-effectiveness of injury prevention interventions in soccer is limited. A reduction of 43% was reported in healthcare costs in the training group that underwent an NMT warm-up similar to the 11+ program with additional use of a wobble-board, when compared to a standard practice control group [ 55 ]. Similarly, the “11+ Kids” program showed a 51% reduction in healthcare costs when compared with a regular warm-up [ 56 ].

Implementation and Evaluation

Literature regarding the evaluation of the implementation of efficacious/effective interventions such as the 11+ and other NMT warm-up programs is advancing despite the lack of reviews [ 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 , 64 , 65 , 66 , 67 ]. However, of all the studies currently available, only two reported using an implementation framework to evaluate a preventative program. The Reach Effectiveness Adoption Implementation Maintenance Framework was used in both studies: one to evaluate an NMT warm-up program for knee/ACL prevention, and the other to evaluate the Adductor Strengthening Program for groin injury prevention [ 57 , 59 ]. Overall, the execution of NMT warm-up programs when implemented ranged between low and moderate [ 60 , 68 ].

To improve the spread and implementation of evidence-based injury prevention intervention in soccer, an understanding of implementation contexts is imperative. Although more rigorous theory-driven studies are needed to further understand potential contextual moderators of successful/unsuccessful implementation, a small number of studies have investigated perceived facilitators and barriers to NMT programs across levels of soccer participation (Table 3 ).

Current Best Practices for Implementation

Literature regarding best practices for onward translation of evidence-based injury prevention programs into routine practice in community and professional soccer remains sparse, and the urgent need for research in this field of inquiry has been identified [ 70 ]. The following conclusions have been reached in existing literature:

Preseason structured coaching workshops have the potential to effectively increase coach attitudes, perceived behavioral control, self-efficacy, and intention and subsequent implementation of NMT programs [ 64 , 71 , 72 ]. However, it remains unclear whether high levels of behavioral determinants, i.e., cognitive and psychosocial factors, would ultimately result in high levels of program adherence and maintenance over time [ 57 ].

Coach-led delivery of the 11+ appears to be relatively sufficient in implementing the program; evidence on the advantage of having additional support or supervision from research or team staff, e.g., strength and conditioning coach, an athletic trainer, or physiotherapist, is mixed [ 57 , 60 , 71 ].

For maximum effectiveness, coaches need to ensure quality delivery to their teams by performing NMT warm-up exercises with proper technique and adhering to the program guidelines, while adapting it to fit their local setting. A minimum of 2× weekly appears to be optimal and thereby recommended [ 58 , 61 ].

Quality implementation requires soccer associations and organizations at the federal, provincial, and community levels to enact policies that enforce injury prevention programs and education and policies that require coaches to use proven NMT warm-up programs such as the 11+ [ 60 , 73 , 74 ].

Conclusions and Call to Action

This review provides guidance to inform future research, policy, and practice towards reducing injuries among soccer players. It presents a one-stop evidence reference regarding the burden, etiology, and prevention of soccer injuries, including current opportunities for evidence-based interventions and their implementation. To achieve desired outcomes and population-level impact from injury prevention research evidence, evidence-based interventions need enabling contexts and effective implementation strategies for a successful integration into real-world settings. Consequently, innovators (e.g., researchers) and implementation actors at the organizational (e.g., football associations, government/public health agencies, non-profit organizations, football clubs) and individual (e.g., coaches, strength and conditioning personnel, medical staff) levels have critical roles to play and are urged to rise to the occasion.

Researchers need to acquire an appreciable level of proficiency in dissemination and implementation research designs to build upon current literature to advance dissemination and implementation science in soccer injury prevention. Specifically, theory-driven dissemination and implementation studies are needed to improve the adoption, adherence, appropriate adaptation, delivery, scale-up, and sustainment of evidence-based injury prevention interventions such as the 11+ in soccer. Researchers should move beyond randomized controlled trials evaluating efficacy in NMT programs (considering that there is extensive evidence supporting NMT efficacy ) to evaluating strategies for implementation in randomized controlled and pragmatic (e.g., quasi-experimental) trials. Further, researchers should use current information on implementation barriers to and facilitators of evidence-based interventions and knowledge from implementation science to conceptualize and test potential implementation strategies. In addition, soccer organizations and their staff, especially coaches, have the obligation of ensuring safety among their players. Collectively, researchers, knowledge brokers, policymakers, leaders, and administrators in soccer and other related organizations need to work collaboratively to move current injury prevention evidence into action in order to protect players’ current and future health.

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Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no datasets were generated during the current study.

Abbreviations

Anterior cruciate ligament

Neuromuscular training

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Acknowledgements

The funding for this review was managed by Pike, I. and Babul, S. of the British Columbia (BC) Injury Research and Prevention Unit and BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute and coordinated by Richmond, S. of the Canadian Injury Prevention Trainee Network.

Provided by the British Columbia Alliance for Healthy Living Society, Canada, and supported by the Saint Louis University, MO, USA.

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Owoeye, O.B.A., VanderWey, M.J. & Pike, I. Reducing Injuries in Soccer (Football): an Umbrella Review of Best Evidence Across the Epidemiological Framework for Prevention. Sports Med - Open 6 , 46 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40798-020-00274-7

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Football is a game that millions of people around the world enjoy watching and playing. With 3.57 billion views of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, this sport appears to be the most popular. Besides, each match is more than just a game — football is all about passion, skill, and teamwork.

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Football is a global sport that connects practically everyone on the planet. It has the power to bring an entire city or nation to a standstill. In the essay that explains why football is the best game, you can share your own experience or the emotions of your friend who is passionate about this game. Also, you can list the reasons why people love this sport. For example:

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• Should football games be played on artificial turf or natural grass?
• Is it ethical for colleges to recruit high school football players?
• Should players be allowed to protest during games?
• Does youth sports play a part in the character formation ?
• Reasons why cheerleading should be considered a sport in football.
• Should the Super Bowl be considered a national holiday?
• The economic influence of football: the benefits and costs.
• Is football too focused on commercialization and profit?
• Should football players be allowed to use marijuana for medical purposes?
• The NFL should have a shorter season to reduce the risk of injuries to players.
• Using performance-enhancing drugs in the world of sport .
• Should college football teams be allowed to schedule games against non-college teams, such as high school teams?
• Should the NFL have a salary cap to ensure fairness among teams?
• Football players should wear full body armor to reduce injuries.
• Is football too expensive for schools and communities to support?
• Should the NFL allow players to use alternative therapies for pain management?
• Should football players be required to take regular drug tests ?
• Should the NFL have stricter penalties for players who break the rules, such as suspensions or fines?
• Children participation in sports .
• Football players should take classes on financial management to prepare for life after football.
• Should the NFL have a quota for hiring minority coaches and executives?
• High school football players should pass a physical exam before being allowed to play.
• Should the NFL have stricter rules on player conduct off the field?
• College football players should be allowed to transfer to other schools without penalty.
• Should the NFL have a policy on players using social media ?
• Football players should attend media training to prepare for interviews and press conferences.
• Sport psychology: biases and influence of external rewards .
• Should the NFL have a policy on players participating in political activism?
• Football players should undergo regular psychological evaluations.
• Should the NFL have a policy on players using alcohol and drugs off the field?
• Should football players be required to wear protective eyewear to reduce eye injuries?
• College football teams should provide mental health resources for their players.
• Should high school football teams limit the number of weekly practices to reduce the risk of injuries?
• Paying college athletes: reinforcing privilege or promoting growth?
• Should college football players be allowed to unionize?
• Should football be banned in schools to protect students from injuries?
• Is playing football in college detrimental to academics?
• Should college football players be allowed to hire agents?

Ideas for a Narrative Essay about Football

• The first time I stepped onto the football field: an unforgettable experience.
• Overcoming adversity: how I bounced back from a football injury.
• A story of teamwork: how football taught me the value of collaboration.
• The most memorable football match I have ever witnessed.
• Coping with stress in athletes .
• The importance of football in building lifelong friendships.
• From underdog to champion: my journey with the football team.
• A day in the life of a football player: behind the scenes.
• The role of football in shaping my identity.
• A tale of rivalry: the intense football match against our arch-nemesis.
• The impact of football on my physical fitness and well-being.
• How a football coach changed my life.
• The thrill of scoring the winning goal: a football victory to remember.
• The evolution of football: from my grandfather’s time to the modern era.
• A football match that taught me the importance of humility .
• The emotional rollercoaster of supporting a football team.
• Lessons learned from defeat: how football taught me resilience.
• A football game that tested my leadership skills.
• Football and community: how the sport brings people together.
• A football camp experience: training, team building , and friendship.
• From fan to player: fulfilling my football dream.

Football Essay Topics: Compare and Contrast

• Regular football vs. American football: a comparative analysis.
• Lionel Messi vs. Cristiano Ronaldo: contrasting two football legends.
• Comparing football and soccer .
• College football vs. professional football: similarities and differences.
• The World Cup vs. the Super Bowl: contrasting two major football events.
• The roles and impact of offensive and defensive players.
• The Premier League vs. La Liga: comparing two dominant football leagues.
• Contrasting playing styles and cultural significance of football in Europe and South America.
• Club football vs. international football: examining the differences in competition and loyalty.
• Football stadiums vs. arenas: comparing the experiences of live football events.
• The similarities and differences between Olympic football and FIFA World Cup.
• Football in the past vs. modern-day football.
• Comparing the roles and responsibilities of quarterbacks and goalkeepers.
• Football fan culture in Europe vs. the US: contrasting fan traditions and behaviors.
• Amateur football vs. professional football.
• Football uniforms vs. gear: analyzing the equipment used in the sport.
• Comparing and contrasting famous football team rivalries.
• Football team dynamics vs. individual brilliance: contrasting the impact of teamwork and individual performances.
• Football referees vs. video assistant referees (VAR).
• Club vs. country: comparing the passion and loyalty for club and national teams.
• Football and injuries: comparing the risk and types of injuries in the sport.
• Football leagues during the pandemic vs. regular seasons.
• Football commentary vs. live match experience: comparing the different ways of engaging with the sport.
• The impact of football on local vs. global economies.
• Football documentaries vs. fictional football movies.
• The role of football in promoting diversity vs. perpetuating stereotypes.
• Football fandom vs. player idolization: contrasting how fans engage with the sport.
• Comparing the traditional grass pitches vs. artificial turf.
• The impact of social media on football vs. traditional media.
• Comparing the challenges of football in different weather conditions .
• Football in mainstream culture vs. football subcultures.
• The health benefits of football vs. injuries and health risks.
• Betting in football vs. gambling.
• The cultural significance of football in different regions.
• Football literature vs. football films: contrasting different forms of storytelling about the sport.
• Football stadiums: traditional vs. modern architecture .
• College football vs. professional football: differences in gameplay and culture.
• Offensive vs. defensive strategies: which is more important?
• Comparing traditional and modern football training methods.
• The history of football in America and Europe.
• Injuries in football vs. soccer: which sport is more dangerous?

American Football Topics

• The evolution of American football: from its origins to the present day.
• The impact of race on American football.
• Concussions and brain injuries in American football.
• The psychology of football: understanding the mental game of players and coaches.
• The role of women in American football: from cheerleaders to coaches and executives.
• The strategies and tactics used in American football.
• The role of coaches in American football: leadership and game planning.
• The significance of the offensive line in American football.
• The impact of college football on the NFL.
• The influence of the media on American football.
• The role of the head coach in American football.
• The importance of physical fitness in American football.
• The impact of technology on American football: from instant replay to virtual reality training.
• The economic impact and financial aspects of American football.
• The history of Super Bowl halftime shows.
• American football and national identity.
• The impact of weather on American football games.
• The influence of player protests on American football.
• The role of American football in the entertainment industry (movies, TV shows, etc.).
• The development of American football youth programs: benefits and challenges.
• The importance of the running back in the offense in American football.
• The role of the defensive line in stopping the run and rushing the passer in American football.
• The influence of American football on sports marketing and sponsorship.
• The impact of fan behavior on American football.
• Exploring the legacy of American football’s great players and their impact on the sport.
• The influence of a new coach on team culture and performance in American football.
• The consequences of player suspensions in American football.
• Player trades in American football: exploring how teams acquire new talent.
• American football and sportsmanship: fair play and ethical considerations.
• The impact of player injuries on American football: exploring the recovery process.
• The role of American football in building teamwork and camaraderie.
• The impact of American football on society’s perception of masculinity .
• The history and cultural significance of American football rivalries.
• The role of American football in promoting community engagement and volunteerism.
• The influence of American football on US pop culture.
• American football and social justice : protests, activism, and athlete empowerment.
• The role of American football in public health and fitness initiatives.
• The ethics of sports gambling in American football.
• American football and sports diplomacy: international relations and competitions.
• The future of American football: challenges and opportunities.

Are you looking for exciting football topics to talk about? Check out our suggestions for persuasive and informative speeches about this sport!

Football Persuasive Speech Topics

• The benefits of playing football for overall physical fitness.
• The importance of youth football programs in fostering teamwork.
• Kids and sports: lack of professional sports guides.
• The positive impact of football on character development and leadership skills.
• The role of football in promoting gender equality and inclusion.
• The economic benefits of hosting major football events like the World Cup or Super Bowl.
• The need for increased safety measures and concussion protocols in football.
• The necessity of providing proper healthcare and support for retired football players.
• The role of football in breaking down cultural and racial barriers.
• Balancing college sports and academic mission.
• The benefits of investing in football infrastructure and facilities for communities.
• The positive influence of football in reducing youth involvement in crime and drugs.
• The potential of football as a tool for empowering disadvantaged communities.
• The role of football in promoting a healthy and active lifestyle among fans and spectators.
• The benefits of including football as part of the physical education curriculum in schools.
• The positive effects of football in promoting national pride.
• Corporate social responsibility in sports organizations .
• The use of football as a platform for raising awareness and funds for charitable causes.
• The importance of football in boosting tourism and international visibility of cities.
• The potential of football in fostering international diplomacy and cultural exchange.
• The importance of providing equal opportunities for females in football at all levels.
• The impact of football on local economies through job creation and tourism revenue.
• The significance of iconic moments in football history.

Football Informative Speech Topics

• The different positions in football and their roles.
• The psychology of football fans and their passion for the game.
• Agencies in the international football industry .
• Famous football stadiums around the world and their significance.
• The rules and regulations of football: understanding the game’s structure.
• The role of referees and their importance in enforcing the rules of football.
• Positive self-talk and its impact on athletes .
• The evolution of football equipment: from leather balls to high-tech gear.
• The most successful football clubs in history and their achievements.
• Exploring the tactics and strategies used in modern football.
• The science behind successful football coaching.
• Sports coaching career and its history.
• Football rivalries: the history and intensity behind classic match-ups.
• The art of scoring goals: techniques and skills of top goal scorers.
• Football and media: the influence of broadcasting and coverage on the sport.
• The psychological aspects of football: mental preparation and performance.
• The cultural impact of football around the world.
• The development and growth of women’s football.
• Physical therapy services for sports injuries.
• The importance of nutrition and fitness in football.
• The significance of football academies in nurturing young talent.
• The role of technology in modern football: VAR, goal-line technology, and more.
• Football hooliganism : understanding the causes and efforts to combat it.
• Famous football managers and their managerial styles: strategies for success.

If you need compelling topics about football for your presentation, here are some ideas you can consider:

• The FIFA World Cup: the most significant event in international football.
• Techniques and skills in football: dribbling, shooting, passing, and more.
• Leadership development in football management .
• The rules and regulations in football.
• Football tactics: exploring different formations and strategic approaches.
• Famous football players of all times: their achievements and impact on the sport.
• Football and sports injuries: common types, prevention, and treatment.
• Steroid use effects on professional young athletes .
• Football stadiums around the world: architecture and unique features.
• The business side of football: sponsorship, transfer fees, and revenue streams.
• Football and social media: the influence of digital platforms on the sport.
• Football documentaries and films: capturing the drama and passion of the sport.
• The effects of football on fashion and popular culture.
• Virtual reality technology in soccer referee training .
• The financial impact of football on cities and regions.
• Football and sports journalism: media coverage and analysis of the sport.
• Football stats and analytics: how data is revolutionizing the sport.
• The causes and consequences of fan violence in football.
• The cultural rituals and traditions associated with football matches.
• Football and the environment: sustainable practices and stadiums.
• The impact of football on tourism.
• Health care site: fitness, sports, and nutrition.
• Football and celebrity culture: players as icons and brand ambassadors.
• Football in video games: the popularity of virtual football experiences.
• The importance of infrastructure in hosting major football events.
• Football tactics in different eras: from Catenaccio to Tiki-Taka.
• Football and broadcasting: the growth of televised matches and media rights.
• Football training drills for improving agility and speed.
• Physical activity and sports team participation .
• Strategies for effective team communication on the football field.
• The importance of proper warm-up exercises in preventing injuries in football.
• Tips for strengthening and conditioning specific muscle groups for football players.
• Defensive formations and tactics for shutting down opponents in football.
• Analyzing football game films to improve performance and strategy.
• Recovering from football injuries: rehabilitation exercises and protocols.
• Sports-related problems and conflicts .
• Sports psychology techniques for boosting confidence and mental resilience in football.
• Nutrition and hydration guidelines for optimal performance in football.
• The connection between globalization and football.
• The role of stretching routines in preventing muscle imbalances in football players.
• Practical strategies for successful penalty shootouts in football.
• Steroid usage in professional sports .
• Football scouting and player evaluation techniques for talent identification.
• The use of technology in football training and performance analysis.
• Football equipment maintenance and safety guidelines for players.
• Preparing and executing penalty kicks in pressure situations in football.
• Advanced passing techniques in football: long passes, through balls, and more.

Do you need to write a research paper about football but don’t know where to start? Consider our list of football research questions and topics:

• How have football tactics evolved over the past decade?
• The impact of technology on decision-making in football.
• Business industry: trend analysis for soccer .
• The psychology of team cohesion and its effects on football performance.
• What is the role of nutrition and diet in optimizing football players’ performance?
• What is the relationship between football and concussions?
• How do FIFA World Cup events affect host countries’ economies?
• What is the carbon footprint of major football events?
• The effects of climate conditions on football matches.
• Shortage of officials at the high school sports level.
• The influence of social media on football players’ image and brand.
• The role of VAR in the fairness of football matches.
• The impact of home-field advantage in professional football.
• How does the football stadium atmosphere affect player performance?
• The rise of women’s football and its impact on gender equality.
• The economic implications of football player transfers and fees.
• The correlation between a team’s wage bill and on-pitch success.
• Factors influencing fan loyalty in football.
• Research handbook of employment relations in sport.
• The role of leadership and coaching in a team’s success.
• The impact of sponsorship deals on football clubs’ financial stability.
• The relationship between player positioning and successful goal scoring.
• The effects of VAR on the emotions and behavior of fans during football matches.
• How does football influence youth development and participation in sport?
• How can big data analytics improve football performance and decision-making?
• The effects of football on cultural identity and national pride.
• How do sports affect disabled people psychologically ?
• The impact of football on the local community and economy.
• The influence of crowd noise on football referee decisions.
• The role of sports psychology in enhancing football performance.
• The impact of financial fair play regulations on football clubs.
• How does football betting affect match outcomes and integrity?
• The cultural significance of football chants and songs in fan culture.
• Steroid abuse in the world of sports .
• The influence of doping scandals on the reputation of football players and clubs.
• The role of football in promoting social inclusion and breaking down barriers.
• How do international football competitions affect tourism?
• The effects of player transfers on team dynamics and performance.
• The correlation between player height and success in football.
• The influence of different playing surfaces on football player performance and injury rates.
• How do referees maintain fairness and order in football matches?
• Achievement motivation theory in sports psychology .
• The impact of football on academic performance and school attendance.
• The role of football hooliganism in shaping public perceptions of the sport.
• The influence of football sponsorship on brand image and consumer behavior.
• The effects of football on social integration and community cohesion.
• How do rule changes affect football game dynamics?
• The influence of football on individual and societal gender norms.
• Sports analysis: steroids and HGH in sports .
• Investigating the impact of celebrity endorsement on football merchandise sales.
• The role of technology in improving football player performance and injury prevention.
• The correlation between alcohol consumption and football-related violence.
• The impact of fan protests and boycotts on football clubs and leagues.
• The effects of retirement on the mental well-being of former professional football players.
• The influence of football on urban development and infrastructure investment.
• How does football affect students’ academic motivation and educational attainment?
• The impact of football on destination marketing in tourism.

Structuring your essay on football is a piece of cake, and we’re going to prove it! Follow our mini guide with valuable tips and examples!

Football Essay Introduction

The first paragraph of an essay is crucial to creating a strong paper. A successful introduction often starts by addressing broad ideas related to the essay’s topic. Follow the steps below to write a compelling introduction:

1. Start with a hook.

Make a good first impression by using a captivating hook . In football essays, it can include a surprising fact, statistics, a question, or a relevant quote. Here’s an example:

What is the one thing that can unite a country and foster its pride? Yes, it is football!

2. Provide background information.

Give essential details on the essay’s main subject. This part can include the history of your topic, an explanation of key terms, and anything that can help your reader understand the context of your issue.

Football is a group of team sports that involve kicking a ball to score goals.

3. End with a thesis statement.

Put a concise thesis statement at the end to outline your motivation for the paper and present central arguments. Let’s talk about this element in detail.

Thesis Statement about Football

The thesis statement is a sentence expressing the primary idea of a piece of writing and guiding the thoughts within the work.

There are several steps that you should take to develop a thesis statement:

• Research information on your issue.
• Limit your topic to a specific area.
• Brainstorm to come up with interesting ideas.

Look at the example of a football thesis statement:

Football offers the chance to feel pride for the favorite team and positively impacts physical, social, and emotional development.

Essay about Football: Body Paragraphs

The main body of an essay is the most crucial part where you deliver your arguments. Here are some tips on writing a good body paragraph:

• Start with a topic sentence to capture the key points.
• Provide additional information to support your opinion.
• Use a transition sentence to get to the next paragraph smoothly.

Here’s an example of what your topic sentence and supporting evidence might look like:

Topic sentence : Football requires effective communication and listening skills since the game will not work without them. Supporting evidence : Communication helps athletes perform and focus better on the pitch and improves the decision-making process.

Conclusion for Football Essay

A conclusion brings your discussion to a close. The following outline may assist you in completing your essay:

• Restate your thesis.
• Explain why your topic is significant.
• Summarize the core points.
• Call for action or provide an overview of future research opportunities

Check out an example of a paraphrased thesis and the summary of the main points:

Rephrased thesis : Football is a fascinating sport with many societal benefits. Summary : To sum up, football can be considered a hobby, a sport, or an obsession. But still, its most important role is to unite people or even entire countries.

We hope you will find our football topics to write about and research beneficial! Want to receive some more ideas? Try our free online title generator ! Just click the button, and the result will not keep you waiting!

• Health and Wellness | The Football Players Health Study at Harvard University
• Sports | Harvard Business School
• Head Injuries & American Football | McCombs School of Business
• Research | Global Sport Institute
• University Archives: History of Football | Marquette University
• NCAA and the Movement to Reform College Football | Library of Congress
• Medical Issues in Women’s Football | National Library of Medicine
• Football Injuries | University of Rochester Medical Center
• Head to Head: The National Football League & Brain Injury | NYU Langone Health

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