Talent Development Environments in Football: Comparing the Top-Five and Bottom-Five-Ranked Football Academies in Norway

Kristian Gangsø,Ingar Mehus,Stig Arve Sæther,Nils Petter Aspvik,Rune Høigaard

doi:10.3390/ijerph18031321

Abstract

Background: The aim of this study was to examine junior-elite football players’ perception of their talent development environment by comparing clubs ranked as the top-five and bottom-five in the 2017 Norwegian academy classification. Methods: In total, 92 male junior-elite football players recruited from under-19 teams from five professional football club academies took part in the study. The Talent Development Environment Questionnaire (TDEQ-5; Martindale et al. 2010) was used to measure the players’ perceptions of their team environment. Results: The subscale long-term development focus and support network had the highest score and indicated that they perceived that the environment was high quality with respect to those factors. Players from the top-five-ranked clubs perceived their development environments to be significantly more positive with respect to holistic quality preparation, alignment of expectations, communication and, compared to players from the bottom-five-ranked clubs. Conclusions: The players’ perceptions of the talent development environment seem to be in alignment of the academy classification undertaken by the Norwegian top football association.

Highlights

The results showed that the players rated the five development environment features between 3.94 and 4.66, with the highest rating on support network 4.66 (0.85), and longterm development focus 4.63 (0.66) dimensions
The aim of this study was to investigate Norwegian junior-elite football playersperception of their talent development environment and to compare environmental differences between academies ranked as top-five and bottom-five according to the academy classification
The findings show that the two dimensions, long-term development focus and support network were the highest ranked dimensions in the academies

Summary

Introduction

The identification and development of talented individuals in football has become increasingly important over recent years, as the standards of sporting performance have grown [1]. The aim of this study was to examine junior-elite football players’ perception of their talent development environment by comparing clubs ranked as the top-five and bottom-five in the 2017 Norwegian academy classification. The Talent Development Environment Questionnaire (TDEQ-5; Martindale et al 2010) was used to measure the players’ perceptions of their team environment. Players from the top-five-ranked clubs perceived their development environments to be significantly more positive with respect to holistic quality preparation, alignment of expectations, communication and, compared to players from the bottom-five-ranked clubs. Conclusions: The players’ perceptions of the talent development environment seem to be in alignment of the academy classification undertaken by the Norwegian top football association

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Methods

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Discussion

Conclusion