An exploration of young professional football players’ perceptions of the talent development process in England

The identification and development of players in English professional football has become an increasingly significant topic of debate given the historical perceived underperformance of the English national team at international tournaments. To enhance understanding of the challenges and barriers experienced by English youth footballers, the authors explore the developmental experiences of English professional football players from different levels of the English football pyramid. Professional players (N = 11) from football clubs in the top four professional divisions in England took part in individual semi-structured interviews, which were analysed inductively using thematic analysis. The data revealed three interrelated themes that were perceived to mediate player identification and development pathways at professional clubs. Pathways for young players to progress and experience first-team competitive football differed when the level of the league that the players operated within was considered, with significant issues also raised relating to the suitability of the under 21 league structure, the importance attached to the educational welfare of young players, and variations in the identification of player attributes. This study sheds new light on the priorities and processes of talent development and education provision in English football.     

“互联网+”下中国足球产业的创新发展和未来

基于产业融合理论,运用文献法、逻辑分析法,探讨中国“互联网+足球”的理论依据与现实发展,构建足球产业的转型升级之路。“互联网+”的技术边界和足球产业的时空约束具有逻辑契合点,“互联网+足球”经过技术融合、业务融合、市场融合3个阶段。目前产业上游围绕赛事、版权形成寡头垄断市场,产业中下游形成垄断竞争市场。构建“互联网+足球”的创新发展,未来需要朝着纵向一体化打造产业生态,细分市场做到局部垄断,技术创新建立大数据资产等路径前进。     

The determinants of stadium attendance in elite women’s football: Evidence from the UEFA Women's Champions League

Women’s football struggles to build a solid platform in terms of fan interest. However, while an increase in gate receipts can help assist its long-term sustainability, there is limited evidence in the academic literature on the factors influencing spectator demand in women’s football. The authors investigate determinants of stadium attendance for UEFA Women's Champions League (UWCL) matches. Using regression models deployed on 554 UWCL games played between 2009/10 and 2017/18, the authors examine contextual and sport-related variables as the main predictors of stadium attendance. Findings show that there is no continuous growth of attendance over the period examined, and highlight that spectators’ interest is positively associated with five factors: stage of the competition, uncertainty of match outcome, competitive intensity, away club’s reputation and weather conditions. Football governing bodies should put in place initiatives to ensure match outcome uncertainty is maintained as this represents a key determinant to maximise stadium attendance. Based on the specific context of European women’s football, recommendations to foster its development are discussed. These include incentivising investment into the elite women’s game and designing sport policies to encourage participation at grassroots levels.     

职业足球改革困境：一种非均衡国家治理模式的反思

运用文献资料法和逻辑分析法,从非均衡国家治理角度对我国职业足球改革面临的困境进行研究。通过梳理相关文献提出,当前国家治理模式具有非均衡性,存在各主体参与失范、治理权责分配失衡的问题,市场、社会、个人主体话语权较弱、参与性不足,形成了较强的政府依赖路径。对职业足球改革各主体之间的关系进行阐述,认为政府和足协是改革话语权的掌握者和资源的分配者,其他主体参与改革作用较小。指出,尚未明确职业足球的发展动机、足协组织能力与管理效能不足、各主体缺乏有效联系与合作是非均衡国家治理模式的具体表现;政府的非市场手段治理、市场失灵与第三部门失灵、个体意识与自我治理不足是其深层次原因。在此基础上提出相应的发展对策。     

Age and maturity related differences in motor coordination among male elite youth soccer players

This study investigated differences in generic and soccer specific motor coordination, as well as speed and agility depending on age and maturity in elite youth soccer players (U10-U15, N = 619). Measurements included body height, body weight and sitting height to estimate age at peak height velocity (APHV); three Körperkoordinationstest für Kinder subtests (i.e. jumping sideways (JS), moving sideways (MS), balancing backwards (BB)) to assess generic motor coordination; the UGent dribbling test for soccer specific motor coordination; a 5m/30m sprint and T-test for speed and agility, respectively. Age specific z-scores of the predicted APHV identified players as earlier, on time or later maturing. (M)ANOVA analyses showed significant age by maturity interaction effects for the speed and agility test cluster, revealing maturity related differences in U14 and U15 players. Next to an overall higher performance with age for all test clusters (η² 0.080–0.468), earlier maturing players outperformed their later maturing peers in 5m/30m sprinting. The opposite was seen for JS and BB. So, players’ maturity status should be taken into account to adequately value performance in talent identification. Also, the focus on characteristics that appear to be minimally biased by an earlier maturational timing (i.e. motor coordination) should be increased.     

Motivation counteracts fatigue-induced performance decrements in soccer passing performance

Recent theories suggest that negative effects of fatigue on performance are determined by perception of effort and motivation rather than being directly caused by reaching physiological limits. In the current experiment, the influence of motivation on fatigue-induced decrements in soccer performance was experimentally investigated. Sixty amateur soccer players performed a validated soccer-passing test before and after a fatigue protocol. Results showed that players’ motivation and performance decreased after the fatigue protocol for players in the control group. In contrast, players in the motivation group (i.e., with motivation experimentally induced after the fatigue protocol) were able to uphold their motivation and increase their performance. These results indicate that motivation plays a crucial role in performance under fatigue, as fatigue-induced decrements in soccer passing performance can be counteracted by high levels of motivation. Future research may explore the limits of this counteracting effect and extend findings to other relevant performance aspects.     

A rule induction framework for the determination of representative learning design in skilled performance

Representative learning design provides a framework for the extent to which practice simulates key elements of a performance setting. Improving both the measurement and analysis of representative learning design would allow for the refinement of sports training environments that seek to replicate competition conditions and provide additional context to the evaluation of athlete performance. Using rule induction, this study aimed to develop working models for the determination of high frequency, representative events in Australian Rules football kicking. A sample of 9005 kicks from the 2015 Australian Football League season were categorised and analysed according to the following constraints: type of pressure, kick distance, possession source, time in possession, velocity and kick target. The Apriori algorithm was used to develop two models. The first consisted of 10 rules containing the most commonly occurring constraint sets occurring during the kick in AF, with support values ranging from 0.15 to 0.22. None of the rules contained more than three constraints and confidence values ranged from 0.63 to 0.84. The second model considered ineffective and effective kick outcomes and displayed 70% classification accuracy. This research provides a measurement approach to determine the degree of representativeness of sports practice and is directly applicable to various team sports.     

The ‘aggressive style’: genesis of an ambiguous resource for Swiss hockey and football players

In this study, we investigated what drives players to endorse an aggressive style in Swiss ice hockey and football. We selected a sample of 16 players on the basis of their penalty statistics. We used semi-directed retrospective interviews to collect players’; biographic narratives. The results show a socialization process into an aggressive style, supported by the dominant gender and socialization norms of the sport, which is under the influence of the structure of the sports organization. However, there are large differences between players, with only some of them adopting an aggressive style. Although many studies have underlined the influence of moral disengagement, the present results suggest that time also matters and that the diversity of career paths may explain the diversity in attitudes. Socialization differences in the sports field, bodily capital, a career path marked by thwarted reputation are the key factors that drive players to adopt an aggressive style.     

我国校园足球可持续发展的若干问题研究

发展校园足球是推进我国校园体育活动的重要力量,亦是提升我国足球运动水平的必然选择。虽然在相关政策的支持下,我国校园足球发展迅速,但依然面临经费短缺、师资不足、发展不均衡、学训矛盾突出、体制机制不完善、社会认可度不高、医疗保障体系不健全等问题。指出,学校应密切联系俱乐部、企业,多渠道获取发展资源;从内部培养与外部引进两方面充实师资力量;坚持全面发展原则,妥善解决学训矛盾,提升学生综合素质;加强足球文化建设,营造良好氛围,提升足球参与者的荣誉感;强化校园足球风险防范意识,加强风险管理。旨在促进我国校园足球健康可持续发展。     

足球踢球动作技能学习中背景干扰效应的实验研究

目的：探讨初学者在足球踢球动作技能学习过程中是否存在背景干扰效应,并分析原因。方法：以足球脚背内侧踢定位球动作技能作为学习任务,选取某大学足球专修班的33名学生为研究对象,分成对照组和两个实验组,进行10周的体育教学现场实验,对一周后保持测试的达标和技评成绩进行单因素方差分析。结果：三组保持测试的达标和技评成绩均值,在0.05水平上差异不具有显著性。结论：实验结果未能出现背景干扰效应,未能验证本研究提出的研究假设和背景干扰效应假说的最主要原因是,足球脚背内侧踢定位球的复杂性任务特征。