Background Expertise has been extensively studied in several sports over recent years. The
specificities of how excellence is achieved in Association Football, a sport practiced …

Objectives To provide a critical systematic review of recent research into psychosocial
factors associated with talent development in football. Design Systematic review informed by …

What explains the acquisition of exceptional human performance? Does a focus on
intensive specialized practice facilitate excellence, or is a multidisciplinary practice …

We examined whether soccer players with varying levels of perceptual-cognitive expertise
can be differentiated based on their engagement in various types and amounts of activity …

OBJECTIVES: We examined differences in the development pathways of elite youth soccer
players in England who progressed to professional status in adulthood compared to those …

The developmental activities of 328 elite soccer players aged under-16 years from Brazil,
England, France, Ghana, Mexico, Portugal and Sweden were examined using retrospective …

Whether young people should specialise in one competitive sport at an early age, or pursue
a wider range of sports during adolescence is a topic of some debate (Baker, Cobley, & …

We identified the perceptual–cognitive skills and player history variables that differentiate
players selected or not selected into an elite youth football (ie soccer) programme in …

Performance improvement is thought to occur through engagement in deliberate practice.
Deliberate practice is predicted to be challenging, effortful, and not inherently enjoyable …

Previously, investigators have sought to clarify the role of psychological factors in the
development of expertise across numerous sport domains; however, almost no empirical …