Unified approaches on talent development in football? Differences and similarities among representatives from a football association and two professional football clubs

Martin Nesse,Stig Arve Sæther,Vegard Fusche Moe,Dikaia Chatziefstathiou

doi:10.1080/23311886.2020.1785216

Abstract

Talent development is a major task for most coaches, both in professional and non-professional clubs. This study provides a qualitative analysis of how coaches and administrators from both the national football association and two professional clubs express their beliefs on coaching/skill acquisition perspective on how talent development should be done. This article consists of 14 semi-structured interviews with three administrators and two coaches at the Norwegian football federation and two administrators and seven coaches from two professional clubs. The results suggest shared views on the necessity of joining a professional club to become an elite player, although the perceived importance of the professional clubs differs among the respondents. Concerning early recruitment, some of the association and elite coaches believe present practice is able to identify and recruit the most talented players. The professional clubs are also aware of the risk of missing out on talented players, but justify their practice of early recruitment of talented players on increased competition. These different perspectives on talent development comparing representatives from the association and professional clubs could potentially effect the future talent development process and results.

Highlights

Talent development in football is a major task for actors on all levels including coaches, clubs and national football associations
Talent development is a long-term process including both non-professional and professional clubs (Martindale et al, 2007, 2005), their impact on the players often occurs at different ages (Ford et al, 2009)
This study provided a qualitative analysis of how coaches and administrators from both the national football association and two professional clubs expressed their beliefs on how talent development should be done, in terms of recruitment age, talent development envir onment and the talent identification process

Summary

Introduction

Talent development in football is a major task for actors on all levels including coaches, clubs and national football associations. Most associations have goals related to the inclusion of all players who want to play organized football (mass participation), they are often just as much or more concerned about giving the most talented (potentially elite) players the opportunity to develop into elite football. This creates a tension or even a dilemma, because the needs, values and motivation of participation in football may vary significantly between a grassroots player and a highly talented player. From a football association perspective, talent development is complex and must fulfil the different expectations and goals from the perspective of the player, coach and parent

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