Development of the Talent Identification Questionnaire in Soccer for Outfield Players (TIDQ-OP): Coaches' perceptions of the key attributes for player recruitment.

Talent identification in sports is a complex process, whereby the aim is to identify, select and promote players who are considered to have the necessary skills and competencies (e.g., technical, tactical, and physical attributes) to succeed in senior adult competition. To support this process, this study focused on the development of a questionnaire to assist in the identification of talent among South African youth soccer players. This will establish a measure of the attributes coaches consider important when making talent identification decisions for outfield soccer players. The questionnaire was constructed following established instrument development phases. In phase 1, 61 questionnaire items were generated based on a review of the relevant literature. In phase 2, a panel of experts examined the content validity of the preliminary items. In phase 3, the provisional 59-item questionnaire (Talent Identification Questionnaire in Soccer for Outfield Players; TIDQ-OP) was administered to 173 experienced South African soccer coaches (130 males and 43 females) who ranged in age from 18 to 64 years. In phase 3, the factorial structure of the questionnaire was established through principal component analysis. The final questionnaire consisted of 58 items. These preliminary analyses indicate the usefulness of the TIDQ-OP as a tool to assist South African coaches in the identification and selection of talented players.

Effects of tactical dimension and situational variables in throw-ins on the offensive performance in football.

The aim of the study was to describe the usual practices in the execution of throw-ins by La Liga teams during the 2021-2022 season, identify tactical indicators related to the outcome of plays that start with a throw-in, calculate their predictive power, and finally analyse the influence of situational variables on the effectiveness of these plays. A total of 2,658 throw-ins, during 80 matches were analysed. Two UEFA PRO coaches designed an ad hoc observation instrument "Thrinfoot" and two observers coded the data after a training process. Inter and intra-observer reliability was calculated using Cohen´s Kappa coefficient, revealing almost perfect agreement. Multinomial logistic regression was applied to predict the throw-ins outcome (p<0.05). Results showed how fast throw-ins (OR = 0.7, p<0.05), without pressing (OR = 0.4, p<0.001), short and backwards (OR = 0.3, p<0.01) in the central zone (OR = 0.6, p<0.01) and made in the 16´-30´ (OR = 0.6, p<0.01), 61´-75´ (OR = 0.7, p< 0.05) periods, presented higher probabilities of continuing with possession. Match status losing>2 (OR = 4.1, p< 0.05) showed higher probabilities of success. On the other hand, throw-ins from the defensive zone presented higher probabilities of unsuccess (OR = 8.6, p<0.01) and losing possession (OR = 1.8, p<0.01). Finally, the bottom teams showed the highest probability of losing the ball. In conclusion, tactical indicators such as duration, press, distance, direction and zone were identified as key performance indicators and the situational variables team quality, match status and time influence the outcome of throw-ins. These findings provide valuable insights to coaches regarding the factors that influence the outcome of throw-ins. This allows them to design optimal strategies for both executing and defending these plays based on the game situation and their immediate aims.

Home advantage in Greek football.

Home advantage as it relates to team performance at football was examined in Superleague Greece using nine seasons of game-by-game performance data, a total of 2160 matches. After adjusting for team ability and annual fluctuations in home advantage, there were significant differences between teams. Previous findings regarding the role of territorial protection were strengthened by the fact that home advantage was above average for the team from Xanthi (P =0.015), while lower for teams from the capital city Athens (P =0.008). There were differences between home and away teams in the incidence of most of the 13 within-game match variables, but associated effect sizes were only moderate. In contrast, outcome ratios derived from these variables, and measuring shot success, had negligible effect sizes. This supported a previous finding that home and away teams differed in the incidence of on-the-ball behaviours, but not in their outcomes. By far the most important predictor of home advantage, as measured by goal difference, was the difference between home and away teams in terms of kicked shots from inside the penalty area. Other types of shots had little effect on the final score. The absence of a running track between spectators and the playing field was also a significant predictor of goal difference, worth an average of 0.102 goals per game to the home team. Travel distance did not affect home advantage.