ECSS Paris 2023: CP-AP08
INTRODUCTION: The process of identifying talented youth football players and developing them into experts in adulthood is central to national federations and is influences by many factors. This process is underpinned by several environmental factors including when players are born (i.e., birthdate) and where they are born (i.e., birthplace), and the amount and types of football-specific activities (e.g., coach-led practice) engaged in during their developmental pathway. National federations can only identify, develop, and select from a pool of players that are born within the country, thus these environmental factors play an important role in the process. Therefore, the aim of the study was to examine the key environmental factors associated with talent identification and development of youth international football players. METHODS: Participants were male youth football players (U13-U19) from regional (n = 147) and international (n = 90) squads of a single European national federation during the 2025-26 season. All players completed a Participant History Questionnaire (Ford et al., 2010) capturing birthdate, birthplace, developmental milestones (e.g., when they started playing football), and accumulated hours in football-specific activities (practice, play, competition) across their developmental pathway thus far. To date, data has been analysed descriptively to examine the distribution of players’ birthplaces across population categories and geographic regions, as well as accumulated hours in football-specific activities across development. RESULTS: Initial descriptive analysis indicated that 26.9% of youth international players were born in Q1, compared to 17.3% born in Q2, with 28.1% Q3, and 27.7% in Q4. Of the total sample, 146 (61.6%) were born within the country, 87 (36.7%) were born in neighbouring nations, and 4 (2%) outside of Europe. Players typically began engaging in football at around 4.7 years of age. Prior to entering the National Federation pathway at age 12, players accumulated 2205.7 ± 324.6 hours of play, 1010.4 ± 214.9 hours of coach-led practice, and 532.0 ± 86.3 hours of competition. Further analyses will investigate whether these developmental patterns differ between regional and international players. CONCLUSION: Preliminary findings provide an overview of the environmental factors associated with the identification and development of youth football players within a single national federation. As geographic, cultural, and infrastructural contexts vary substantially across nations, further analyses will be presented to better understand how these factors relate to progression to international level.
Read CV Daniel EvansECSS Paris 2023: CP-AP08
INTRODUCTION: Exploratory behavior has been defined as the process of executing a diverse range of movement configurations within specific constraints of each performer [1]. This behavior is considered a core component of creativity and is thought to underpin adaptability in football [2]. However, traditional coaching approaches often rely on constant verbal instructions, which may restrict players’ opportunities to explore functional movement solutions. Despite growing support for constraint-led learning approaches, empirical evidence examining how coach instructions affect exploratory dynamics in football remains limited. Therefore, this study aimed to analyze the effects of explicit coach instructions on the exploratory behavior of young football players. METHODS: Thirty-six elite U16 players (15 ± 0.9 years) participated in a repeated-measures design involving 9v9 game scenarios under two conditions: instructed (INS), with instructions related to positioning and tactical organisation, and non-instructed (N-INS). Games were played on a standardized pitch and recorded for subsequent analysis. Tactical behavior was coded using an adapted FUT-SAT observational system [3]. Exploratory dynamics were assessed through dynamic overlap analysis, yielding exploration rate (α) and exploration breadth (qstat). Additionally, Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was applied to identify dominant behavioral patterns. Statistical comparisons were conducted using the Wilcoxon test for the number of Principal Components and one-way ANOVA for α and qstat. RESULTS: No significant differences in the number of principal components were observed between conditions. Dynamic overlap analysis revealed significantly higher exploration rates (α) in the N-INS condition (INS= 0.69, N-INS= 1.11; p < 0.05), indicating more frequent transitions between collective configurations. No significant differences were observed in exploratory breadth (qstat;p=0.244), although lower values in the N-INS condition (INS=0.30, N-INS= 0.26) suggested a tendency toward broader exploration of the behavioral space. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that continuous coach instructions may reduce players’ exploratory behavior, likely by narrowing attentional focus and limiting attunement to game affordances [4]. In contrast, the absence of explicit instructions appears to support behavioral variability. These results align with ecological dynamics and implicit learning frameworks, supporting the idea that excessive instruction may hinder exploratory behavior in football. Reducing the frequency of coach instructions facilitates higher exploratory behavior in young football players. These findings support coaching approaches that prioritize exploration in football training. [1] Hristovski, R., et al., The Open Sports Sci J, 2012. [2] Kempe et al., J of Sports Sci, 2018 [3] Costa et al., Motricidade, 2011 [4] Furley et al., Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 2010.
Read CV Eduardo De la Pascua RocaECSS Paris 2023: CP-AP08
INTRODUCTION: Physical match demands in soccer are frequently analysed and reported without explicit consideration of the tactical context in which they occur. As a result, physical load metrics are often interpreted independently of game behaviours such as build-up play, defensive organisation, or transition phases, despite their potential influence on match demands. The aim of this study was to examine how technical-tactical characteristics of match play are associated with team-level physical match demands in elite U19 soccer. METHODS: An observational, cross-sectional match-analysis design was applied, analysing 45 competitive matches played by an elite U19 team competing in the highest Czech youth league across two competitive seasons. Physical match demands were assessed using 10-Hz GPS technology and included total distance (km), accelerations (> 3 m·s⁻², counts), decelerations (< −3 m·s⁻², counts), high-speed running (Z5, distance), sprint distance (Z6, distance), and high-intensity entry counts (Z5, Z6 entry). Across all matches, mean team-level values were 109.7 ± 4.5 km for total distance, 743.7 ± 75.5 accelerations, 808.9 ± 71.5 decelerations, 7774 ± 1076 m for Z5 distance, 1990 ± 454 m for Z6 distance, 471 ± 53 for Z5 entries, and 113 ± 20 for Z6 entries. Technical-tactical characteristics, including defensive block behaviour, build-up actions, transitions, and ball possession, were obtained through systematic video analysis. Associations between tactical and physical variables were evaluated using Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient (ρ), with physical variables representing the cumulative demands of all players participating in each match. RESULTS: Ball possession showed only trivial to small associations with physical match demands (e.g., Z6: ρ = −0.07; Z5: ρ = −0.22). The total number of build-up actions was weakly and negatively associated with sprint distance (ρ = −0.20) and showed trivial associations with other variables. In contrast, the total number of transitions demonstrated moderate positive associations with sprint-related metrics, including sprint distance (ρ = 0.47) and sprint entry counts (ρ = 0.48). Transitions initiated from different defensive block contexts showed variable associations, with transitions from a mid-defensive block demonstrating the strongest links to sprint-related demands (Z6 distance: ρ = 0.50; Z6 entry: ρ = 0.49), whereas high-block transitions showed weaker associations (Z6 distance: ρ = 0.21). CONCLUSION: These findings highlight transitions as a key tactical context driving high-intensity physical demands at the team level and emphasize the importance of integrating tactical context into the interpretation of match-load data and the design of training processes in elite youth soccer.
Read CV Erik JelínekECSS Paris 2023: CP-AP08