What is it about?

This study explores the psychological profiles of elite soccer players, revealing that success on the field goes beyond physical ability. By analyzing a sample of 328 participants, including 204 elite soccer players from the top teams in Brazil and Sweden, we found that elite players have exceptional cognitive abilities, including improved planning, memory, and decision-making skills. They also possess personality traits like high conscientiousness and openness to experience, along with reduced neuroticism. Using AI, we identified unique psychological patterns that could help in talent identification and development. These insights can be used to better understand the mental attributes that contribute to success in soccer and other high-performance fields.

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Why is it important?

The study offers a large-scale, comprehensive analysis of the psychological profile of elite football players. It highlights new opportunities to understand the critical role of psychology in football. Practical applications include leveraging this knowledge and the model we developed to evaluate young players and predict their potential to become professional athletes.

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This page is a summary of: Decoding the elite soccer player’s psychological profile, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, January 2025, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2415126122.
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