Intelligence in Football:

Conceptualizations, Developmental
Methodologies and Behaviors

A phenomenological investigation

Douglas Jakobsen

GYMNASTIK- OCH IDROTTSHÖGSKOLAN

Självständigt arbete grundnivå 54:2019
Tränarprogrammet 2017-2020
Handledare: Alexander Ovendal
Examinator: Pia Lunquist Wanneberg
Abstract
Aim: In elite football (also known as soccer), practitioners are in constant pursuit of
understanding essential performance parameters and how they can be developed. As every
executed football action is governed by a decision, a player’s ability to make intelligent
decisions during play is vitally important for success. This concept of a player’s “football
intelligence” is complex and at times ambiguous for practitioners both at the elite and sub-
elite level. The present work aims to provide some clarity regarding the phenomena of
intelligence in football.

Methods: Semi-structured interviews with 8 well-merited professional coaches from multiple

countries were conducted, asking them three main questions; how do they conceptualize
football intelligence? What developmental methodologies do they implement to address
football intelligence, and in what practical behaviors do players manifest football
intelligence? Responses were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using qualitative research
methods.

Results: The results give insight into what can be summarized as components of football
intelligence, such as concepts of anticipation and information processing. Additionally, a
number of different methodologies including functional training and pedagogical approaches
to develop football intelligence emerged. Furthermore, some specific behaviors performed by
intelligent players, such as information-seeking actions, were exemplified.

Conclusions: Based on the results, a conceptual framework for better understanding the
phenomena and potentially improving practical interactions with football intelligence are
presented and discussed. Finally, practical recommendations for coaches and players are
suggested, along with suggestions for further academic research.
Table of contents

1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 1
1.1 Previous research.............................................................................................................. 1
2 Background ............................................................................................................................. 3
3 Purpose & Research Question ................................................................................................. 4
4 Method .................................................................................................................................... 4
4.1 Research method .............................................................................................................. 4
4.1.1 Qualitative analysis ....................................................................................................... 5
4.2 Procedure .......................................................................................................................... 5
4.3 Ethics statement................................................................................................................ 6
5 Results ..................................................................................................................................... 6
5.1 Conceptualizations and components of football intelligence ........................................... 7
5.2 Developmental methodologies of football intelligence ................................................. 12
5.3 Behaviors of intelligent players...................................................................................... 18
6 Discussion ............................................................................................................................. 20
6.1 Components of football intelligence .............................................................................. 21
6.2 Developmental methodologies and behaviors................................................................ 25
6.3 Miscellaneous ................................................................................................................. 26
6.4 Practical recommendations ............................................................................................ 28
6.5 Further research .............................................................................................................. 29
References ................................................................................................................................ 31

Bilaga 1 Käll- och litteratursökning

1 Introduction
The game of football is characterized by a complex and dynamic setting, where players must
constantly make and execute decisions while simultaneously managing tactical frameworks,
technical proficiency, physical/motor actions and a sustainable psychological state. Coaches
and sport philosophizers have previously divided sport performance into four categories;
technical, tactical, physiological and psychological. Successful players must be consistently
competent in reference to these categories, and coaches are constantly evaluating players to
pinpoint which category must be improved. In this process lies a further complexity; some
categories can be more easily evaluated than others. Many of a player's physical components
of performance for example, can be quantified through various technological measures such
as total distance covered, and the assessment of a player's technical parameters can be at least
be aided by the analysis of statistics like passing and dribbling success rates (da Mota,
Thiengo, Gimenses & Bradley, 2016).

In relation to the tactical and psychological performance categories however, a player's

performance is often arbitrarily and very subjectively analyzed. Within the tactical category
of performance, rests a broad and complex decision-making process. Since each technical and
physical action in football is governed by a decision, the decision-making process is of
supreme value for player performance, and a player's ability to consistently make intelligent
decisions on the pitch is a prerequisite for successfully implementing other skills. For
example, a player's physical capacity to accelerate quickly is of little or no value if they fail to
recognize how and when to accelerate. Equally, a player's technical ability to dribble with the
ball is of little to no value if they fail to recognize when dribbling with the ball is a viable
solution. A player's ability to make good and situationally appropriate decisions to help solve
given on-pitch problems has been conceptualized as “game intelligence” (Pill, 2018).

1.1 Previous research

Game intelligence is a very sought-after quality, that has been the focal point of a number of
academic projects in the past. Some studies have looked to explore the link between game
intelligence and pedagogy (Kelly, 2017; Croad & Vinson, 2018), whereas other have
qualitatively investigated correlations between game intelligence and creativity, finding that
coaches mostly associate game intelligence to rationality and problem solving in decision

1
making (Leso, Dias, Ferreira, Gama, Couceiro, 2017). Game intelligence in team sports has
also been ambitiously explored quantitatively (Lennartsson, Lidström & Lindberg, 2015).
Additionally, studies have presented ideas surrounding contextual intelligence in football,
using a contextual intelligence questionnaire to evaluate three dimensions; anticipatory
intelligence, tactical intelligence and competitive intelligence (Ruiz, Garcia, Palomo, Navia &
Minano, 2014) which are related to further in this work. A potential explanation to why some
football players are more successful than others has been presented as linked with the
development of cognitive executive functions, such as working memory, which are suggested
to be the more general cognitive abilities associated with game intelligence (Vestberg,
Reinebo, Maurex, Ingvar & Petrovic 2017). The concept of game intelligence has also been
conceptualized and researched from the points of tactical creativity, or tactical decision
making, including one study where concepts of breadth of attention and inattention blindness
were investigated in terms of their prevalence and implications in team sports (Furley &
Memmert, 2007). The same authors presented another study that has suggested that domain-
general working memory capacity is not associated with creativity in a soccer-specific
creativity task (Furley & Memmert, 2015), somewhat contradictory to the suggestions of
Vestberg et al. (2017).

Naturally, some studies and theories which focus on development methodologies of game
intelligence in team sports and physical education have been presented. Many can be
summarized as “game-based” approaches such as TGfU: Teaching Games for Understanding
(Bunker & Thorpe, 1982), and the Game Sense approach (Den Duyn, 1997) which advocate
teaching with a focus on understanding the game at a deeper level. An additional theory
regarding the development of game intelligence is classified as a “non-linear” approach,
which can be summarized as a learner-centered style in which the environment and task are
manipulated to facilitate learning and skill acquisition (Chow, Davids, Button & Renshaw
2016). In terms of practical behaviors performed by football players to facilitate intelligent
solutions, frequency of environmental exploration through information-seeking behaviors
expressed by rotation of the head has been linked to successful on-ball performance in
football (McGuckian, Cole, Jordet, Chalkley & Pepping, 2018).

2
2 Background
Despite the concept of game intelligence being a topic of interest for researchers both in
sports broadly and football in particular, there remains some discrepancy regarding the
phenomenon. More specifically, there remains discrepancy in its conceptualization,
definition, practical manifestations and practical development methodologies. Previous
phenomenological research that had coaches conceptualize decision-making, a central
element in the process of manifesting game intelligence in football, yielded significant
variation ranging from quite simple and fragmented conceptualizations to more sophisticated
and comprehensive conceptualizations within the football coaching community (O’Connor,
Wardak, Goodyear, Larkin & Williams, 2018). It can be hypothesized that the concept of
game intelligence in football may exhibit a similar phenomenon of variation due to its
complexity and depth.

While a majority of elite coaches likely want to work with players that possess high degrees
of game intelligence, and therefore often evaluate players based on their degree of game
intelligence, it is unclear if the coaches have a clear and unanimous definition of the concept.
No previous research to the knowledge of the author of this work has conducted
phenomenological interview style research concerning game intelligence in football with an
international and elite level scope. Research tracking elite coaches' current views on what
game intelligence is and how it is developed, would provide practitioners like other coaches,
players, and football federations with invaluable insight which may function as a foundation
for further developed methodologies to improve their respective interactions with game
intelligence in football. Furthermore, it is of interest to analyze to what degree coaches’
definition of game intelligence is unanimous, as potential discrepancy would mean more
diffuse criteria for players looking to develop their game intelligence to strive for, and a
baseline problem making intellectual discussions surrounding game intelligence difficult
within the coach’s field of work. Additionally, it is of further interest to analyze elite coaches'
conceptualizations and methodologies surrounding game intelligence from an international
perspective, as this may provide a number of different approaches to the phenomenon as
influenced by footballing history, and cultural differences. Results may also be of benefit for
the academic world, as conceptualizations from the practical world may provide researchers
with suggestions sub-topics to further investigate from a scientific and more theoretical
perspective. Based on the results, recommendations for football practitioners to facilitate the

3
development of intelligent players are presented for practical implementation. Results of this
work may also present themes closely related to academic concepts, suggesting that they be
the focal point of future studies. Through a series of interviews with elite coaches working in
professional and international settings within men’s and women’s football, this work will aim
to assess the coaching community’s current conceptualizations of game intelligence, as well
as tracking their practical methodologies surrounding its development and their interpretations
of intelligent player actions.

3 Purpose & Research Question

The primary purpose of this work is to record and analyze elite football coaches'
conceptualizations regarding the phenomena of intelligence in football (hereby referred to as
football intelligence) and their methodological approaches used to develop this football
intelligence. Furthermore, this study will attempt to present a clearer and practically useful
explanation of what constitutes football intelligence than is currently available. The purpose
can be distilled to a research question; how do elite football coaches conceptualize
intelligence in football, and what methods do they use to develop it? Answering questions
such as what football intelligence is, how intelligence manifests itself practically and how it
can be best developed can be beneficial insight for a plethora of sub-groupings in the football
world as previously discussed.

4 Method

4.1 Research method

The phenomenological research approach aims to track the lived experience of a particular
group and ultimately to describe the nature of a phenomena (Creswell, 2013). In the present
study, the group is composed of elite football coaches and the phenomena investigated in
football intelligence. The research method also exhibits characteristics similar to those
discussed in grounded theory, as the focus is to obtain an understanding of the football
intelligence phenomena and how it manifests itself in real life. It is assumed that this method
can generate a theory (Hassmén & Hassmén, 2008) which this work to some extent manages.

In order to best address the research questions at hand, the qualitative research method of
spoken interviews has been utilized. Semi-structured interviews were selected to allow the

4
interviewee to speak rather free-flowingly, explaining their conceptualizations of football
intelligence. Semi-structured interviews allow for a high degree of flexibility and opportunity
for clarification. Spoken interviews may also have an advantage over written interviews as it
can be assumed that football coaches more regularly must verbally communicate their
conceptualizations to players and media for example, as opposed to communicating in written
form, and therefore will be more comfortable with the task which likely will contribute to
qualitative data of a higher quality.

4.1.1 Qualitative analysis

After the data collection process, the transcribed data has been analyzed using a constant
comparison method described in grounded theory and is used to develop categories and
themes from the data (Hassmén & Hassmén, 2008). These categories are constantly compared
to each other, searching for emerging similarities and differences. Upon distilling the
qualitative data into categories and themes, a conceptual framework can be created and
presented.

4.2 Procedure
Upon selecting the topic of football intelligence for further investigation, previous research
was searched for in scientific databases such as Discovery, using search words like; game
intelligence, football, soccer, tactical creativity and more. The structure and proposed method
of this study was presented at a seminar, where peer suggestions were taken into account.
Upon selecting the interview research method, inquiries regarding an interest to participate in
the study were sent to over 40 coaches. After a period of rejections and non-responses, 8 male
senior professional coaches aged 31-60 with an average of 16.5 years of coaching experience
were chosen as final participants using a purposive sampling method which can be
summarized as selecting participants that were deemed to be of particular interest for the
purpose of the study (Hassmén & Hassmén, 2008). These participating coaches were
strategically chosen as they had experience in various roles, are from various backgrounds,
and work both on the men’s and women's side of the game. In this case, senior professional
coaches were defined as coaches working with senior level (i.e. adults) in the top tier of the
domestic league pyramid or national team. All but 2 of the participating coaches have
obtained a UEFA PRO (or other continental federation equivalent) coaching license. Upon
expressing their interest and being selected for participation, the coach was contacted via
email and asked to respond with general background information such as current club, age,

5
nationality, professional player and coaching history, as well as educational history with the
assurance that these details would not be publicly published. The response to this email serves
as confirmation of participation in the study, and a time for an interview was agreed upon.
The interviewee was also informed regarding the objectives and their role in the current study.
Participants were also informed that they will be answering anonymously, and that their
names will not be published in the study. The interview layout was pilot tested on multiple
occasions, and questions were distilled to three main questions: 1) what is intelligence in
football? 2) How do you work practically to help develop football intelligence with players?
3) What practical behaviors do intelligent players perform? Emphasis was placed on coaches
to exemplify and clarify their thoughts. The interview was conducted and recorded using
QuickTime 10.5 over the phone, and transcribed verbatim. All interviews, with the exception
of those conducted with Swedish coaches, were conducted and transcribed in English.

4.3 Ethics statement

The conducted research consciously adheres to the European Code of Conduct for Research
Integrity as presented by ALLEA, incorporating principles of reliability, honesty, respect and
accountability (ALLEA, 2017). With respect to the coaches’ careers and in accordance with
academic conduct, personal information such as names or current club affiliations will not be
published in the study.

5 Results
The series of 8 interviews resulted in a number of interesting themes surrounding the
phenomenon of football intelligence. As the interview consisted of three main questions,
regarding conceptualizing football intelligence (5.1), the developmental methodologies (5.2)
used by coaches, and the practical behaviors performed by intelligent players (5.3)
respectively, the results have been grouped into three corresponding categories after
undergoing constant comparison. Under each category the corresponding interview question
is presented, followed by a series of themes and citations from the interviewed coaches.
Under the presented theme and citation, some commentary and practical examples are
provided.

6
5.1 Conceptualizations and components of football intelligence
Interview question: “Intelligence in football… what is it in your opinion?”

a) Anticipation of play (anticipation)

“the capacity to think before receiving, to anticipate in some way the play” - Coach 1

When asked what intelligence in football is, Coach 1 suggested that it is linked with the
ability to anticipate the play; reading its course and acting proactively, rather than reacting to
the occurrences and acting reactively. In relation to a football-specific situation, this could
mean to anticipate the play and know that repositioning yourself slightly to the left, will allow
you to receive the ball with space to your right, making a switch of play more easily executed.
A previous study presented a strand of intelligence called “anticipatory intelligence” which
refers to the ability to “anticipate the actions of my opponents”. This factor is related to the
intuition, the signal capture or the prior oversight to the performance.” (Ruiz et. al, 2014)

“the ability to recognize what the situation looks like leads to better decisions.
Predicting what situation is arising is important in that aspect, and that’s where the
pattern-recognition ability comes into play” - Coach 8

As Coach 8 remarks, the concept of anticipation can also be linked to the concept of pattern-
recognition. Pattern-recognition ability is likely an important part of the anticipation process
as it would allow the player to identify an emerging pattern, for example the structure of their
team in relation to the structure of the opponents team, and allow them to anticipate how that
pattern would develop during play and subsequently what opportunities the situation affords
them with. In relation to tactical ability, a sort of football-pattern recognition would be a
precursor to a successful decision and execution, in the sense that the player would first need
to recognize what situation they are in, before proceeding to select and perform the tactically
desired decision. In the present work, this component is labelled as “anticipation” for
categorization purposes.

b) Prioritize perception (prioritized perception)

7
 “finding a priority information in that jungle where you have a lot of information…
that’s maybe the real intelligence that is in unconscious level that you really learn to
understand what is priority and…. what is like important information in every
particular situation” - Coach 5

With multiple of the interviewed coaches expressing the need for players to “scan” their
environment with the hopes of perceiving essential information for good decision making,
Coach 5 brought the need for a player to prioritize their perceptive process to light. Coach 5
implies that in a football situation, a player is faced with a multitude of informational stimuli,
and that football intelligent players have learned what type or groups of stimuli are of more
importance than others for making successful, advantageous decisions. For example, when a
player is about to receive the ball, the position of the closest opponent, the structure of the
attacking team and the spaces available would be likely (besides the ball itself) be some of the
more relevant information for making a successful decision, as opposed to the informational
stimuli of someone in the stands which does not benefit the decision making process. The
coach also eluded to the fact that learning what stimuli to prioritize can and should be
positionally specific; the striker learns what specific information he should look for when
picking a spot to aim his shot at, and the defender learns what specific information to perceive
when defending one-on-one situations for example. In this regard, coaching plays a
potentially monumental role. As the process of arranging the stimuli into an accurate
hierarchy is likely a difficult task for a player, a coach can aid this process by suggesting what
stimuli is relevant to identify, such as the position of the opposite offensive midfielder for a
defensive midfielder about to receive the ball. Additionally, and perhaps more profoundly, the
coach could provide the player with a clarification of his task in the given situation and allow
the player himself to discover what information he needs to perceive to ensure he can fulfil
the task at hand. For example, if the defensive midfield is to receive the ball from one side
and knows that his task is to switch the field of play, he will after some repetition likely have
discovered that scanning the opposite side of the pitch and identifying a free player to pass to
is essential information to complete his task. However, there is an important balance for
coaches regarding the degree of their restrictive instructions, as too rigid and specific
instructions seem to have a negative effect on tactical solutions and decision making (Furley
& Memmert, 2007). In the present work, this component is labelled as “prioritize perception”
for categorization purposes.

8
c) Processing speeds (speed of process)

“obviously it becomes a speed of finding solutions, speed of preparing for solutions”

- Coach 5

Coach 5 points out the importance of a type of processing speed when faced with problematic
situations in football. At the elite level, when many players have reached a certain proficiency
in appropriate decision-making ability, those who can process perceived information and
make appropriate decisions faster than others will have a natural advantage. In the present
work, this component is labelled as “speed of process” for categorization purposes.

d) Play in relation to situation and context (relation to situation)

“to know… as a player what you need to do depending on the situation you are (in)
or the situation the game is in that moment, so for example depending on the minute
of the game, depending on… the result, this could be the situation (that affects)
which decision you need to make” - Coach 6

Coach 6 also points out the relevance of the specific situation in the game, and its relation to
football intelligence. This is of particular interest as it highlights the enormous complexity of
decision making in football. If a player has the ball on the offensive half and identifies the
opportunity to pass to a teammate in a position of good offensive potential, they would be
inclined to “risk” the pass being intercepted as the potential for a good scoring chance is
present. By most coaches, this would be a praised decision in most scenarios… but if it is the
last minute of a game in which you are leading by one goal, most coaches would like to see
the player make sure to retain possession of the ball at all costs, not risking giving it away for
what is not a sure goal. Given the need for adapted decision making in relation to the unique
strategic requirements in a specific in-game scenario, coaches should be cautious of teaching
players that certain decisions are always “correct”. In reference to the contextual intelligence
study, this point can be conceptualized as tactical intelligence “I usually choose the
appropriate technique for a certain competition moment). It refers to the competence to make
the correct solutions in those situations the athlete encounters.” (Ruiz et. al., 2014)

9
In the present work, this component is labelled as “relation to situation” for categorization
purposes.

e) Play in relation to skillset (relation to skillset)

“the intelligent players, are the ones that adapt their skills to the demands of the
game. So they have the capacity to understand that if you are not a fast player, they
don’t try to beat the opponent through the pace. But if they are good through…
good passing skills… they try to find these jobs where they can have a good impact
through their passing skills” - Coach 1

Coach 1 also implies that intelligence in football is linked to the ability to play in relation to
the players own, unique skillset. Coaches often design complex tactical systems based upon
the characteristics of their players, and players who act out-of-character often only worsen the
possibilities for collective team success. Players should process information through a lens of
how their ability can be applied to the situation and make decisions rooted in manifesting
their own personal strengths while simultaneously benefitting the team. In the present work,
this component is labelled as “relation to skillset” for categorization purposes.

f) Understand the environment (understand environment)

“ability to recognize the outer conditions and being able to adapt to them…. so
intelligent player is mostly a player who is aware of what’s going on on the pitch... he
can recognize the surroundings and he is able to understand what solution, in the
specific scenario, will be the best to bring the advantage for him and for the team” -
Coach 4
Coach 4 voiced the importance of a player to recognize and adapt to the conditions during the
game. With the goal of creating an advantageous situation for the team, a player should
perceive the variables and process their significance, and finally adapt their actions, whether
with the ball such as a pass that switches play to create a numerical advantage, or without the
ball such as a positional adjustment to attract attention from defending opponents,
subsequently bringing the advantage of more time for their teammate with the ball. In the

10
present work, this component is labelled as “understand environment” for categorization
purposes.

g) Decision-making (decision-making)

“intelligence, in a very basic statement is the ability to make as many decisions that
affect positive outcomes in different moments in the game… make good decisions
consistently” - coach 7
Coach 7 conceptualized intelligence in football as interrelated with decision making, whilst
taking into account the specific context of the game that the decision is made in, similar to the
component of playing in relation to the match situation as discussed previously. The coach
also suggests that since it's difficult to gauge the players actual internal decision, decision
making ability is better analyzed with the perspective of the outcome, and the players ability
to produce positive outcomes consistently in a variety of game situations. This would
encompass an execution sub-phase, meaning that the outcome is also heavily influenced by
the technical execution (which may be seen as the practical manifestation of the made
decision), which adds to the complexity of analyzing a player's decision-making ability. In the
present work, this component is labelled as “decision-making” for categorization purposes.

h) Evaluating and learning (evaluating and learning)

“in my experience the most intelligent players are the ones who learn the fastest…
what solution works in what kind of situation, and why it worked also” - Coach 2

Coach 2 notes that intelligent players often seem to obtain and manifest appropriate
knowledge at a more rapid rate than others. Upon experiencing a football situation, these
players are able to evaluate their decision and its outcome, in relation to the perspective of the
technical action, the game situation as a whole, the positions of opponents and so on. Once
knowledge of a situation is obtained, it can be generalized and abstractly considered to be
applied to situations of similar yet different conditions. In the present work, this component is
labelled as “evaluation and learning” for categorization purposes.

11
5.2 Developmental methodologies of football intelligence
Interview question: “How do you work practically to help develop football
intelligence with players?”

a) Recreated game situations; recognizing and understanding (game situations)

“in training we need to create an environment that is as specific as possible to how

we want to play. Intensity, rules such as offside, patterns and behaviors should be
incorporated as they are those we want to have transfer to the matches we play.” -
Coach 8

In regard to methodologies used by coaches to facilitate the development of intelligent

players, Coach 8 advocated the necessity of recreating game situations. This recreated
environment should aim to encompass many of the same attributes as the match itself, and
desired actions and behaviors should manifest as much as possible. Adding to the authenticity
of the environment, game rules such as offside should be active as these variables are
essential to recognize and base decisions and actions upon. Coach 8 also touches on a concept
of “transfer” from the training environment to the match environment. This would be in line
with a suggestion that players in training environment occupy the roles that they will have
during matches, which is presented later on. Viewing this method though the lens of the
pattern-recognition phenomena, may help understand this reasoning; if coaches want players
to anticipate and act in situations based upon the recognition of developing patterns such as
positions of teammates, these patterns should be replicated in the training environment often,
and in as much similarity to the game environment as possible.

“what we try to do is to help them (the players) understand the game, and that
means to understand how the opponent is playing, where are the weakness of each
opponent, where are the spaces, where are the advantages, how to create
superiorities in certain zones of the pitch especially and what the keys to solving it
are. If needed, guiding them on how it can be solved.” Coach 1

Above, another coach advocates the recreation of game situations as a developmental method
for intelligence in football, with the perspective of understanding. When game situations are

12
recreated in training, focus is put on aiding players to be cognizant of the opposing teams'
tactical strategies and its strengths and weaknesses. Practically, this means helping players
identify what spaces have a high probability of arising, and what advantages and relating
superiorities can be beneficially exploited. In this process, the coach suggests that players
should be given the opportunity to discover themselves, and that coaches should help players
by guiding them in this process as oppose to simply giving them solutions as this would likely
limit the players opportunity to manifest a creative solution of their own accord. This
phenomenon is similar to theories of “discovery learning” suggesting that discovering
information on one's own makes it more relatable and applicable to problem-solving (Bruner,
1961). In the present work, this method is labelled as “game situations” for categorization
purposes.

b) Functional training with correct roles and locations (role-based functional

training)

“I don’t think you can do this (develop game intelligence) individually (isolated) for
example… you need game situations to do defensive part as well.” Coach 2

Coach 2 advocates the necessity of functional training programs to help develop intelligent
players, in line with the argument that isolated training does not offer the complexity and
same demands as functional or game-like situations present. The coach also expresses that
intelligence in football is not something that can generally be manifested at the individual
dimension, as an individual's intelligent decisions must be made in relation to other players
and collective structures. In this sense there is a need to develop game intelligence, both in
offensive and in defensive actions, through training that presents a player with the need to
behave in relation to other teammates and opponents.
“it's important to train in a way that’s close to the match, and preferably in the
correct roles and with those behaviors. This means you are often in the position and
in the spaces as you will be on the pitch.” - Coach 3

As another coach adds above, when training in a functional manner, players should be
occupying the roles and positions that closely resembles those that they will be expected to

13
perform during matches. This would likely be an obvious concept when playing games such
as 7 vs 7 in training, but could also be a concept that is applied to exercises such as possession
play. In the present work, this method is labelled as “role-based functional training” for
categorization purposes.

c) Provide players with tools to understand environment, and execute appropriate

decisions in a functional environment (Tool-providing functional training)

“to make intelligent players we should give them appropriate tools, so they can
know as much as possible and react on their own based on their own experience
and potential” - Coach 4

Coach 4 expresses that a way of viewing the coach's role in facilitating more intelligent
players is to provide them with the appropriate tools to solve situations in functional
environments. The coach advocates that training should be played out in an environment
of intensity which demands a high degree of concentration, and that is functional in the
sense that it demands players to be aware of factors such as teammates, opponents, the ball
and spaces. In addition, a degree of autonomy is suggested, allowing a player to be in full
control of their decision-making process as opposed to role-based functional training
which is stricter in the sense of positions and player roles. As the coach explains, the
information-gathering behavior of scanning the play should be conceptualized as a tool
that aids in the manifestation of intelligent actions in the play, as discussed later in this
work. In the present work, this method is labelled as “tool-providing functional training”
for categorization purposes.

d) Exercise that create the necessity to make decisions related to a problem.

Manipulate variables to make specific situation/concept appear more often.
(Problem-based exercises)

“it has to be situation of decision making, decision making, decision making… where
the players have to think about what they have to see, it’s not just playing 6 versus 6
and let’s go. No, we need to create a problem inside the game, and the players think
about this problem… what this problem is doing is (creating) the concept that we

14
 want to work, is appearing more times. And then the players if they make the right
decisions will be able to solve this problem that you are creating inside the game. So
the players have to think about how to solve different problems that are being
present” - Coach 6

In regard to how to develop intelligent players, coach 6 is clear that creating exercises that
incorporate high and frequent demands of decision making is necessary. The coach explains a
process of creating a specific problem within the exercise. This created problem facilitates
cognitive activity and players must constantly find and implement solutions. Variables such
as pitch area, number of players, and additional rules of play can be manipulated to create the
need for certain solutions, which would represent the concept that the coaches wish to
develop with the players. For example, if a coach wants to work with a players ability to
shield the ball from an opponent, playing a game with equal number of players offensively
and no limitation on the number of touches a player can take would likely cause the situations
where a player needs to shield the ball to occur often. In the present work, this method is
labelled as “problem-based exercises” for categorization purposes.

e) Ask questions, promote reflections (strategic questioning)

“I think that the way of teaching players and ask them to look at themselves and
ask them to evaluate themselves I think it should be a day in day out work instead
of… a little component in a program or something like that.” - Coach 2

Another method to develop more intelligent players used by coaches seems to be the use
of strategic questioning, and promotion of reflections from players. As Coach 2 details
above, asking players to adopt a reflective stance on their actions and decisions should be
a daily practice.

“I ask what were you thinking when this and this happened? How did you
prepare, for what option you prepared as a priority? So really questions,
questions, questions, and with this of course reminders” - Coach 5

15
Coach 5 seems to work in a similar way, strategically posing questions regarding the
players decision making processes, and stimulating a self-reflective ability which is
regarded as one of the characteristics of intelligent players, as discussed further later on in
this work. In addition to strategic questions, Coach 5 will use reminders for players,
including reminders of tactical concepts or technical adjustments. In the present work, this
method is labelled as “strategic questioning” for categorization purposes.

f) Video analysis - experience from a different perspective (video analysis)

“I think it’s important to… get the knowledge by video, so I use a lot of video
because I think it’s important for them to see the game situations from
perspective.” - Coach 2

According to coach 2, the use of analysis of video is a method of facilitating football

intelligence, suggesting that videoed situations from training and matches can be seen
afterwards and complement the players real time experience. Seeing the situation from
another perspective, may help the player get a broader view of the play and has the
advantage of being able to be replayed, and reanalyzed without the extreme time
constraints of the real time situation. Additionally, discussions between the coach and
player may be had in regard to the situation being watched together, stimulating further
development of the players knowledge. The utility of video analysis as an aid to situational
experience for players is reiterated by coach 5 in a citation below, where a three-step
experience, video analysis, and re-experience process is outlined.

“use the mistakes and good moments three times; so in the field, you experience
it once, then after that from the video maybe you make another perception about
the same situations because it's not emotional anymore, and third time, third time
you try to correct it in the field the next Monday” - Coach 5

As coach 5 explains, a player may have a different outlook on a situational experience

after the fact not only due to the change of perspective provided by the video, but also
since they are in a different emotional state. Coach 5 is also clear that the three-step
experience, video analysis, and re-experience process can be applied to both advantageous

16
 and disadvantageous situations, where advantageous decisions and actions would be
validated during video analysis step, and attempted to be replicated in following sessions
whereas disadvantages decisions would be discussed, and a new strategy would be
suggested and attempted to be applied in the following session. In the present work, this
method is labelled as “video analysis” for categorization purposes.

g) Isolated first, progress to functional (Isolated training)

“it's like a learning process, perhaps in the beginning you may have to work more
isolated and simply with training dolls (representing opponents) and learn to scan the
situation, then you add more and more complexity to the exercises and finally reach
a situation that’s is very similar to the actual match… and the methodology to reach
this actual match is in some sense to break it down more isolated first and then
progress” - Coach 3

While some of the interviewed coaches advocated the use of very functional and game-like
environments in training to facilitate intelligent players, others spoke of the utility to isolated
certain concepts. Coach 3 favors a methodology that revolves around a traditional learning
process, which starts with a more isolated form of training and progresses to training with the
same degree of complexity and demands as the match. As coach 7 outlined below, a similar
principle of isolating a component of play can be used in the form of passing exercises. Given
the specific tactical demands of the upcoming match, the coach will design a passing pattern
to with the hopes of introducing the desired pattern of play to the players. The coach has
conceptualized this as a form of sub-conscious programming for players and voices the utility
of a more isolated exercise without opposing players as the technical motor actions with the
ball should be the same. In the present work, this method is labelled as “isolated training” for
categorization purposes.

“I'll incorporate a passing pattern to support them team for the tactical strategy of
the next game… it’s a form of sub-conscious programming… without pressure
first… since the technical and biomechanical action is the same” - Coach 7

17
5.3 Behaviors of intelligent players
Interview question: “What practical behaviors do intelligent players perform?”

a) Information-seeking behaviors (Information-seeking behaviors)

“I think at players who scan a lot of times what’s going on around me, what’s going
(on) close to me, what’s going (on) further away from me and have the full picture
before they receive the ball…” - Coach 1

A majority of the interviewed coaches expressed the importance “scanning” the environment,
and it seems to be the practical behavior of intelligent players that first comes to mind for
coaches. Scanning refers to an information-seeking behavior, where players turn their head to
actively perceive information from their surroundings. Above, coach 1 accounts for how
intelligent players constantly seek to perceive information from the on-pitch situation and
develop an internal representation prior to receiving the ball, from which a decision can be
based upon. As coach 6 explains below, information-seeking behaviors are vital to successful
decision making, especially in coordination with the unique requirements of the game in the
particular context. In the present work, this behavior is labelled as “Information-seeking
behaviors” for categorization purposes.

“if when you are playing football and you are just focused on where the ball is, then
you will just receive the ball and you will not know what is happening in other
spaces, then it will be very difficult to make the best decision. But if you have been
looking around you and know what is happening in the field then… if you as well
know what the game needs… then you can make a good decision.” - Coach 6

These information-seeking behaviors are likely facilitated by the coaching methodologies like
game situations, role-based functional training, problem-based exercises and tool-providing
coaching.

b) Details & timing (details & timing)

18
 “to receive in the right moment, in the right space, to control the ball with the right
leg, to create advantages for your teammates, I think that that’s a sign of
intelligence.” - Coach 1

Coach 1 regarded seemingly small yet essential behaviors like controlling the ball with the
foot furthest from the pressing defenders as manifestations of intelligence. As the coach
implies, minute details implemented by the player is decisive in the creation of advantages for
the team as a whole. These advantages may subsequently lead to successful overall
performance. With regards to receiving in the right moment, this suggests a sort of “timing of
actions” that contribute to success. If for example a player is to receive the ball in an open
space, moving into that space too early may attract attention from opponents who then close it
down. Instead, the intelligent players “times” their movement and meet the ball in the space.
Behaviors such as controlling with the correct foot may be automated through the isolated
training and tool-providing methodologies, whereas aspects of timing actions and creating
advantages may be developed in game situations, role-based functional training, strategic
questioning, video analysis and problem-based exercises. In the present work, this behavior is
labelled as “Details & timing” for categorization purposes.

c) Self-reflect, re-experience situations (Self-reflection)

“intelligent players I think reflect on their decision-making process, and try to re-
experience it and learn.” - Coach 5

Coach 5 suggests that intelligent players self-reflect and consciously re-experience situations
in attempts to learn from them more often than other players. This self-reflective interest may
allow a player to better develop their football intelligence as it promotes re-experiencing
situations and the variables involved, pondering alternative solutions and other tasks
associated with decision making. This behavior is likely facilitated by a coach using the
methodology of strategic questioning and video analysis. In the present work, this behavior is
labelled as “self-reflection” for categorization purposes.

Likely, the results presented in the categories above influence each other and act in an
interrelated manor. In table 1 below, these three categories are linked together.

19
Table 1. Demonstration of how the results of the qualitative data may be linked together, as certain
methods promote certain behaviors, and subsequently incorporate certain sub-components.

6 Discussion
The aim of this work was to investigate the phenomena of intelligence in football. Semi-
structured interviews with professional coaches have revealed a number of similar yet
different conceptualizations of what constitutes intelligence in football, as well as tracking the
coaches’ methodological approaches to develop intelligent players. To summarize the results,
coaches conceptualized football intelligence along 7 different themes. These themes
encompass a player’s ability to: use anticipation, prioritize perception, process quickly, play
in relation to the situation, play in relation to their skillset, understand the environment and to
make appropriate decisions. Coaches prefer to use the following methods to develop football
intelligence: game situations, role-based functional training, tool-providing functional
training, problem-based exercises, strategic questioning, video analysis and isolated training.
Furthermore, the practical behaviors that intelligent players perform were identified as
information-seeking behaviors, details and timing, and self-reflection. These results were

20
gleaned with the hopes of providing clarity to the complex phenomenon of football
intelligence. Practitioners may benefit from these results as identifying the conceptualizations
and developmental methods used by elite coaches as well as the manifestations of intelligence
in football may provide them with insight and inspiration with regard to how they interact
with the phenomenon on a daily basis.

6.1 Components of football intelligence

The well-known “theory of multiple intelligences”, advocates dividing human intelligence
into more specific domains rather than viewing intelligence in general terms (Gardner, 1983).
Perhaps a similar method could be applied with utility to conceptualize football intelligence?
The conceptual themes of intelligence in football as expressed by professional coaches, could
be seen as the sub-components of more general components of football intelligence, perhaps
providing a clearer and more structured framework for interactions with this phenomenon.
Based on the results of this study, suggestions for such a conceptual framework is presented
below in figure 1.

Figure 1. Above presents a conceptual framework of the football intelligence phenomenon. The adhering
components are described in further detail below.

Anticipatory ability & Perceptive ability

21
Firstly, the ability to anticipate may be conceptualized as an essential component of football
intelligence, that is working in close conjunction with the component of perceptive ability.
Perceptive ability encompasses the players ability to perceive the situation, and the variables
at hand. As a situation holds a large number of variables, some more relevant than others, the
process of selecting and prioritizing stimuli becomes one essential for intelligent players. A
player's ability to prioritize in what order and detail these variables should be perceived, is
also a subcomponent of perceptive ability, and is a process likely aided by anticipatory ability.
In terms of general variables to account for in a football situation, the ball, teammates,
opponents and spaces are of interest. As with the anticipatory ability, the practical behavior
most clearly associated with the perceptive ability components are the information-seeking
behaviors performed by players. The interrelation of anticipation and perception has been the
topic of studies before (Möller, 2000).

Processing ability
Processing ability as a component of football intelligence would entail the information
obtained through the anticipative and perceptive process being internally processed. Sub-
Components of processing ability would be those described as a general speed of process, as
well as the ability to process information in relation to the players individual skillset, and in
relation to the situation that the game is in. The processing component has no clear link in
relation the practical behaviors and is instead an internal process which lacks a physical
manifestation.

Decision making (and execution) ability

The decision-making component of football intelligence would be where a concrete football
solution is produced (and executed) based upon the information gathered and processed in
previous phases. Conceptually, the decision made is grounded in the perceived and processed
information, and the execution can be considered as the practical manifestation of the
decision. Herein lays some problematic complexity however, as a decision itself may be
advantageous, yet the technical motor action supposed to execute it may be unsuccessful,
making analysis of the decision-making component difficult. In relation to the behavioral
themes discussed in this work, the decision making and execution component would manifest
itself practically in regards to the specific details and “timing of actions” such as passing the
ball to a certain foot of a teammate in a certain pace, as that would provide them with optimal
advantage in a situation.

22
Evaluative ability
The final component of football intelligence can be characterized as evaluative ability. This
entails a player's ability to evaluate and subsequently learn from the situations they
experienced when playing. This phenomenon would entail a transfer of knowledge, making it
closely related to the concept of “generalization” ability in psychomotor learning study
(Cratty & Noble, 2016). As outlined, the behavior of self-reflection would be closely linked
to this component. Findings of a previous study have suggested that the process of
metacognition (to think about the way one thinks in a situation) may be of utility for athletes
(MacIntyre et al., 2014), and it is entirely possible that this concept could be a useful asset to
a player's evaluative ability as a component of football intelligence.

Table 2. the table below further explains the findings of this work. Additionally, the components outlined about
can be categorized into pre-execution, execution and post-execution phases, referring to the players physical
interaction with the ball. Alternatively, the components can be viewed through their contribution to a process
such as information gathering.

In conclusion, differentiating the phenomena of football intelligence into more specific

components, may be a method of some utility for practitioners. This method may facilitate
interactions of higher quality as it provides a more structured framework that can be used for
the basis of interactions such as training regimes, and player analysis. There may be a

23
conceptual advantage to breaking down such a broad concept as football intelligence, as it
would allow practitioners to more easily pinpoint areas during essential tasks like discussions
and evaluations. For example, instead of coaches agreeing that Player A must improve his
“game IQ”, they could be able to be suggest in a more sophisticated manner that while he
currently processes information well in relation to his skills and often makes good decisions
in that regard, he would benefit from developing a better ability to process information in
relation to the specific game scenario, and subsequently tailor a training program and
pedagogical strategies to address this. An additional example that illustrates the importance of
behaviors and performance components to work in coordination with each other, could be if
Player B, who has a well-developed self-reflective behavior and evaluative ability, is able to
discuss situations with her coaches who implement the method of strategic questioning,
whereby the coaches could conclude that Player B is reading the play well (anticipatory
ability) seeing what she should see (perceptive ability), processing information quickly and
accurately in relation to her skills and the game scenario (processing ability) and is able
suggest an appropriate decision (decision-making) yet is not able to practically manifest this
decision consistently, leading coaches to identify that technical ability could be an area to
focus the training regime upon. This may be related to the practice of differentiation,
involving analytical processing each component of the whole process.

Greatly adding to the effectiveness of this approach would be the production of a series of
tests that could validly and reliably gauge a player's respective component in an objective
manner, which is no doubt a difficult task. For the time being, coaches will need to continue
their subjective analysis of players football intelligence, a complex process that this paper
suggests would be aided by the conceptual framework of differentiated components of
intelligence in football. It should be clearly stated that this method is suggested solely due to
its potentially practical utility for football practitioners, and not due to any scientific evidence
that a football players action begins and cycles through the presented components as “steps”.
As this work is based primarily upon the qualitative data accrued through semi-structured
interviews with professional coaches who spoke of their practical interactions with the
football intelligence phenomena, this work wishes to summarize these perspectives to the
practical benefit of football practitioners, and does not wish to delve into the complex
theoretical realm of the science behind intelligence, perception or football decision-making
more than necessary. In fact, the author of this paper strongly advocates the necessity to
always consider the practical utility of a model or theory for sport practitioners, as too many

24
theoretical models remain within the academic realm without being successfully practically
applied, often because they contain too much information with too few suitable practical
examples for practitioners to absorb and apply. The nature models and theories should be
“pracademic”, combining the practical and academic realms. Hence, one should consider that
experienced practitioners should at least be significantly involved in the production of
academic works regarding their sport, if not writing the academic works themselves.

6.2 Developmental methodologies and behaviors

A number of developmental methodologies implemented by professional coaches were
discussed. In summary, these methodologies ranged from training in a very game-like or
functional environment, to beginning with isolated training. Additionally, more pedagogically
oriented approaches like problem-based exercises, the posing of strategic questions to athletes
and video analysis sessions were discussed. These methodologies are illustrated further in
figure 2 below.

Figure 2. Above, the methodologies favored by the interviewed coaches are presented. These methodologies can
be sorted in relation to their functional nature, as well as their apparent pedagogical influence.

When listening to the reasoning presented by coaches regarding their methods of choice, it
can be inferred that many hours of on-pitch and off-pitch time were spent perfecting these
methods. As one coach eluded to, it is important that everyone finds their own way of
working with the development of football intelligence, and that this method be tailored to the
specific group they work with.

25
When asked to describe what practical behaviors performed are by players that manifest
football intelligence, three behavioral themes emerged. Firstly, several coaches seemed to
consider information-seeking behaviors such as actively “scanning” the situation by looking
around as a trademark of intelligent players. Secondly, other coaches explained how
seemingly minute details such as which foot the player elects to control the ball with, and
when they moved into space to receive the ball, were manifestations of football intelligence.
Lastly, a player's willingness and ability to engage in self-reflective processes and re-
experience situations to consider alternative solutions and outcomes was identified as a
behavior associated with football intelligence.

6.3 Miscellaneous
Finally, during the course of interviews, a number of interesting topics not specifically
related to the research question at hand emerged. However, some of these citations are
included and discussed due to their potential interest for football practitioners reading this
work.

Academy players/physical selection

“I have the feeling that players who’s grown up from academies, and they are very
physically strong like let's say a winger… sometimes I can see they have some
difficulties to get this game intelligence because they try to survive off pure
speed, pure physical level and stuff like this… they never scan, compared to
players who really read the game very well and try to predict the game instead of
react to the game.” - Coach 2

One coach provided fascinating insight regarding the development of football intelligence
of players, especially those who developed in professional academy settings and have
strong physical attributes. The coach eludes that these players to a lesser degree than
others engage in scanning and information-seeking behaviors, and react more to the game
rather than anticipating the play. One possible explanation for this phenomenon can be that
the success these players had in vital years of development, was too heavily rooted in
physical dominance of opponents, squandering the necessity for developing a great ability
to read the game. Interestingly, the same phenomena may have been present in the
development of some of the most “football intelligent” players. Players like Spain’s Xavi
Hernandez and Italy’s Andrea Pirlo are players widely known for their superb vision and

26
 ability to read the game, an ability which may have been in some sense forced to develop
as there was no physical forthcomings to rely on for successful play.

Scanning as a tool
“scan, checking shoulder and body orientation is just a tool. The most important for
the player is being involved in the game. It means that his level of concentration is
constant during the game from 90 minutes because if most of the players are active,
I scan, I try to find the best space, the best place on the pitch when the ball is
changing or going forward with the action and then the player becomes inactive,
he's being passive. So of course, checking and trying to see as much as possible
during the game, is the most characteristic aspect of intelligent players. Why?
Because I try to put my influence on the game, I’m not reacting, (to) what’s
happening but I also try to create what’s happening on the pitch.” - Coach 4

Previously, insight from coaches regarding information seeking behaviors like scanning were
presented. Coach 4 above makes the distinction that the most important aspect for a player to
be so involved in the game that they influence it significantly. In this sense, the process of
scanning is contextualized as a tool for identifying the best space in order to be able to create
situations themselves, rather than reacting to situations that have arisen. Pedagogically, this
philosophy may help players better understand how they should think and behave during a
match, and provide a relatable context to why they should be performing practical information
seeking behaviors.

Creativity in solutions
“these players they can solve it on their own way, they create new ways to solve the
problems…. and this is good because even as a coach then you learn, and the
teammates even can learn more.” Coach 6

Interestingly enough, several of the interviewed coaches touched on the fact that players often
solve given solutions in training in their own unique way. These creative solutions can serve
as a place of learning for both the coaches themselves, as well as other players. To limit the
suffocation of creative solutions, coaches should attempt to form an environment with the

27
freedom to think outside the conventional box and facilitate the opportunities for creative
solutions in various exercises and games.

6.4 Practical recommendations

Based on the qualitative data from interviewing coaches and destining their wealth of
expertise, a few recommendations for both coaches and players looking to improve their
respective interactions with football intelligence can be presented.

Recommendations for coaches

- To facilitate transfer of behavior and a player's pattern recognition ability, play with
guidelines and structure (patterns) that are similar to those expected in the match,
- Provide players with guided information such as what to perceive and tasks to relate to,
- Work with details (tools) such as body orientation and perceptive scanning of the field to
aid the information-collection process,
- Create exercises/training regimes that require intelligent decisions for success - create
necessity for intelligent and creative solutions to a specific “problem”,
- Ask questions that promote self-reflection and deeper consideration of situations. After
training, incorporate video analysis and apply a three-step process entailing experiencing,
analyzing with video, and re-experiencing the situations,
- Use isolated situations to improve specific techniques, ensuring the good decisions can
manifest themselves practically through execution,
- Promote players to value the importance of details such as passing to the correct foot, and to
“time” their actions appropriately. Promote the players to evaluate their decisions and
thought-processes when applicable,
- Remain open to players to solve problems in their own, creative way,
- In youth football, try to play in a way where physical dominance is not the central key to
success. Instead, promote play in a way that requires players to be cognizant of the patterns
of play. Be willing to see past short-term results for long term development,
- When evaluating the football intelligence of players, dividing this broad concept into
components like “anticipatory ability” to gauge the player’s ability to anticipate play, and
“evaluative ability” to gauge a player's ability to learn from and rectify their mistakes may
be beneficial and provide more specific analysis.

28
Recommendations for players
- Work actively to perceive the environment, and try to predict the course of play based upon
what you see. Build a plan to solve the problem from the variables that you have identified,
- Play with intentionality and aim to influence the game through creating situations, not
reacting to them, in relation to your unique skillset,
- During the match, be conscious of the situation that the match is in, and how that context
may affect what an advantageous decision would be,
- Work consciously to develop technical excellency and automatization, to ensure that you
have many solutions to a given problem at hand, and that your intelligent decisions can be
practically manifested in a fluid manor,
- Value the importance of details in play that will create optimal advantages for you and your
team, and be conscious of “timing” of your actions appropriately,
- Adopt a self-reflective stance on football situations, engage in metacognitive activities to
promote learning, situational generalizations, and pattern recognition ability,
- Your physical and psychological state likely influence your ability to make intelligent
decisions. Make sure they are in check!

6.5 Further research

Further research on game intelligence in football and other topics discussed in this work
should focus on dissecting subcomponents from a more scientific perspective. As
information-seeking behaviors seem to be important for intelligent players, research could
look to investigate how this process could be improved through experimental training
methods for example. Additionally, the effectiveness of different training methodologies for
developing game intelligence should be studied in relation to developmental phases of players
taking into account age and experience, though this poses the need for a reliable and valid test
of game intelligence which is no simple matter. Using quantitative research methods to
compliment qualitative research methods, would also likely be beneficial to further
understanding of the complex football intelligence phenomena. Research searching for
notable relationships and variations between football intelligence and game intelligence in
other team sports and even individual-based sports may also yield useful insights.

29
Finally, as scientific instruments and knowledge continue to development, investigations at a
neurological level would be of interest; more specifically presenting answers to what actually
separates football players from each other objectively.

30
References

ALLEA. The European Code of Conduct for Research Intregrity Revised Edition, (2017).
Berlin.

Bruner, J. S. (1961). The act of discovery. Harvard Educational Review. 31, 21-32.

Chow, J., Davids, K., Button, C., & Renshaw, I. (2016). Nonlinear pedagogy in skill
acquisition. New York: Routledge.

Cratty, B., & Noble, C. (2016). Psychomotor learning. Encyclopædia Britannica, inc.
https://www.britannica.com/science/psychomotor-learning

Creswell, J.W. (2013). Qualitative Inquiry & Research Design: Choosing Among the Five
Approaches. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications Inc.

Croad, A., & Vinson, D. (2018). Investigating games-centred pedagogies to enhance athlete
decision making in elite coaching contexts. International Journal of Coaching Science, 12(1),
35–68.
https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=s3h&AN=132179087&site=ehost-
live

da Mota, G. R., Thiengo, C. R., Gimenes, S. V., & Bradley, P. S. (2016). The effects of ball
possession status on physical and technical indicators during the 2014 FIFA World Cup
Finals. Journal of Sports Sciences, 34(6), 493–500.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2015.1114660

Furley P., Memmert D (2007). “I Spy With My Little Eye!” Breadth of Attention,
Inattentional Blindness, and Tactical Decision Making in Team Sports. Journal of Sport &
Exercise Psychology, 29, 365-381.
https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=s3h&AN=25301933&site=eds-live

31
Furley P., Memmert D (2015). Creativity and working memory capacity in sports: working
memory capacity is not a limiting factor in creative decision making amongst skilled
performers. Frontiers in psychology. 6:115. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00115

Gardner, H. (1983). Frames of mind: The theory of multiple intelligences. New York: Basic
Books.

Hassmén, N., Hassmén, P. (2008). Idrottsvetenskapliga forskningsmetoder. Logotipas: SISU

Idrottsböcker.

Kelly, S. (2017). Pedagogy, game intelligence & critical thinking: the future of Irish
soccer? Soccer & Society, 18(5/6), 746–767. doi:10.1080/14660970.2016.1230348

Lennartsson, J., Lidström, N., & Lindberg, C. (2015). Game Intelligence in Team
Sports. PLoS ONE, 10(5), 1–28. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0125453

Leso, G., Dias, G., Ferreira, J. P., Gama, J., & Couceiro, M. S. (2017). Perception of
Creativity and Game Intelligence in Soccer. Creativity Research Journal, 29(2), 182–187.
doi: 10.1080/10400419.2017.1302779

MacIntyre, T. E., Igou, E. R., Campbell, M. J., Moran, A. P., & Matthews, J. (2014).
Metacognition and action: A new pathway to understanding social and cognitive aspects of
expertise in sport. Frontiers in Psychology, 5.
https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=psyh&AN=2015-14851-
001&site=eds-live

McGuckian T., Cole M., Jordet G, Chalkley D and Pepping G-J. (2018). Don’t Turn Blind!
The Relationship Between Exploration Before Ball Possession and On-Ball Performance in
Association Football. Frontiers in psychology. 9:2520. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02520

O’Connor. D., Wardak, D., Goodyear, P., Larkin, P., & Williams, M. (2018). Conceptualising
decision-making and its development: a phenomenographic analysis. Science & Medicine in
Football, 2(4), 261–271.
https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=s3h&AN=133104948&site=eds-live

32
Pill, S. (2018). The Game Sense Approach: Developing Thinking Players. Runner
(07073186), 49(1), 32.
https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edb&AN=128637027&site=eds-live

Ruiz, L.M., García, V., Palomo, M., Navia, J.A., & Miñano, J. (2014). Inteligencia contextual
ypericia en el fútbol / Contextual intelligence and expertise in soccer. Revista Internacional
de Medicina y Ciencias de la Actividad Física y el Deporte 14(54), 307-317.

Riegler, A., Peschl, M., von Stein, A., & Möller, R. (2000). Perception Through Anticipation.
A Behaviour-Based Approach to Visual Perception. Understanding Representation in the
Cognitive Sciences, 169.
https://proxy01.gih.se:2079/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edo&AN=33420209&site=eds-live

Vestberg T, Reinebo G, Maurex L, Ingvar M, Petrovic P (2017). Core executive functions are
associated with success in young elite soccer players. PLoS ONE 12(2): e0170845.
doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0170845

33
Bilaga 1

Litteratursökning

Syfte och frågeställningar: Kartlägga olika synsätt/praktiska metoder kring

spelintelligens, analysera skillnader/likheter. Hur definierar elittränare spelintelligens, och
vilka metoder använder de för att träna spelintelligens? Ev. praktiska implikationer; underlag
som underlättar vidare diskussioner samt utvärdering av spelintelligens. Ge inblick i
praktiska metoder.

Vilka sökord har du använt?

(Peer Review, All types): football cognition, game intelligence football, creativity football, executive
functions football, game sense football, perception soccer/football, tactical-decision making football,
tactical creativity. Authors: Geir Jordet, Torbjörn Westberg, Daniel Memmert

Var har du sökt?

GIH:s bibliotekskatalog, Discovery

Sökningar som gav relevant resultat

Discovery:
tactical creativity football
game intelligence football
game intelligence soccer
cognition soccer
perceptual-cognitive skills football
executive functions football
perception anticipation

Authors: Geir Jordet, Torbjörn Westberg, Daniel Memmert

Kommentarer
Flertalet relevanta artiklar hittades via funktionen “relaterade artiklar” i Discovery.