Publicação
Gognitive functioning and sports performance in young footballers: exploring potential influences
| Resumo: | The present study explored the relationship between cognitive functioning and sports performance in elite youth football players. The participants were male players from a professional football academy, divided into two teams of different age groups (U15 and U17). The first stage of the study involved the administration of a standardized cognitive test battery assessing cognitive abilities such as attention, inhibitory control, processing speed, and working memory. Subsequently, sports performance indicators, such as match appearances, minutes played, and national team participation, were collected and used to construct a sports performance evaluation metric. The exploratory analysis results did not reveal significant correlations between cognitive task performance and sports performance, suggesting that domain-general cognitive abilities may not directly predict success in elite youth football. However, U17 players demonstrated faster reaction and response times in several cognitive tasks, reflecting age-related improvements in processing speed without loss of accuracy. These findings highlight the developmental progression of executive functions during adolescence and emphasize the importance of incorporating specific and ecologically valid cognitive assessments in the sports context in future research. |
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| Autores principais: | Santos, Gonçalo da Costa |
| Assunto: | Cognition Cognitive Functioning Executive Functions Youth Football Sports Performance Cognição Desempenho Desportivo Funções Executivas Funcionamento Cognitivo Futebol Juvenil |
| Ano: | 2025 |
| País: | Portugal |
| Tipo de documento: | dissertação de mestrado |
| Tipo de acesso: | acesso aberto |
| Instituição associada: | Universidade do Minho |
| Idioma: | inglês |
| Origem: | RepositóriUM - Universidade do Minho |
| Resumo: | The present study explored the relationship between cognitive functioning and sports performance in elite youth football players. The participants were male players from a professional football academy, divided into two teams of different age groups (U15 and U17). The first stage of the study involved the administration of a standardized cognitive test battery assessing cognitive abilities such as attention, inhibitory control, processing speed, and working memory. Subsequently, sports performance indicators, such as match appearances, minutes played, and national team participation, were collected and used to construct a sports performance evaluation metric. The exploratory analysis results did not reveal significant correlations between cognitive task performance and sports performance, suggesting that domain-general cognitive abilities may not directly predict success in elite youth football. However, U17 players demonstrated faster reaction and response times in several cognitive tasks, reflecting age-related improvements in processing speed without loss of accuracy. These findings highlight the developmental progression of executive functions during adolescence and emphasize the importance of incorporating specific and ecologically valid cognitive assessments in the sports context in future research. |
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