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Purpose: To determine whether menstrual-cycle symptoms are associated with sleep in elite female athletes. Methods: Sleep was assessed for a minimum of 25 nights (range = 25–31) using activity monitoring and sleep diaries. Menstrual-cycle symptoms were collected over the same duration in 12 elite female professional soccer players. Generalized estimating equations were used to examine the relationship between the day of the menstrual cycle (from day 1) and total menstrual-cycle symptoms on sleep characteristics. Results: There was a significant relationship between sleep duration and the day of the menstrual cycle (P =.042) and total symptoms reported that day (P <.001), with sleep duration increasing by 21 minutes for every symptom reported. There was a negative day × symptom interaction on sleep duration (P =.004), indicating that with increased symptoms, the day of the menstrual cycle had a smaller relationship with sleep duration. Sleep efficiency (P =.950), wake after sleep onset (P =.217), and subjective sleep quality (P =.080) were not related to the day of the menstrual cycle. The total symptoms reported had no relationship with sleep efficiency (P =.220), subjective sleep quality (P =.502), or sleep latency (P =.740) but did significantly relate to wake after sleep onset (P <.001), with a significant day × symptom interaction (P <.001). Conclusions: Sleep duration increased from day 1 of the menstrual cycle and was associated with the number of menstrual-cycle symptoms reported. All other sleep metrics remained unchanged; however, total symptoms reported were related to wake after sleep onset. Monitoring and managing menstrual-cycle symptoms should be encouraged due to a potential relationship with sleep characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the resurgence of deviant leisure cultures in football, with a focus on virtual football violence. Despite advancements in curbing violence in UK football stadiums, new challenges emerge online. By analysing social media discourse from three English Premier League matches in 2022, the study reveals the prevalence of several forms of virtual violence, including threats of physical and sexual violence, emotional violence, and discriminatory violence. The research highlights the resurgence of ‘traditional’ norms of masculinity, aggression, and misogyny facilitated by anonymity in online spaces. Paradoxically, the results show that fans engage in derogatory language while simultaneously condemning similar actions by others. This phenomenon is particularly evident in the category of discriminatory violence, where comments are frequently challenged, indicating a ‘raising of consciousness’ and a growing intolerance to certain forms of discriminatory language. However, despite some evidence of social consciousness and pushback against discriminatory language, the prevalence of virtual violence remains concerning on multiple levels. This underscores the need for continued efforts to promote respectful discourse and foster inclusive environments online. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Corinthian FC (1882–1938) was one of the world's most famous football clubs, despite never winning a league championship or a cup competition. At a time when association football, especially in Britain, was establishing itself as a form of commercialised entertainment with clubs organised as businesses and employing working‐class professionals, the Corinthians became the principal standard‐bearers for gentlemanly amateurism, effectively creating and curating a niche brand which had middle‐class appeal and proved remarkably resilient. Pursuing this analogy focuses attention on the core values with which the club was associated and the strategies pursued to protect the brand it had created. This article seeks to explain the appeal of this elite touring club in England and also overseas, where it focuses especially on its visits to South Africa in 1897, 1903 and 1907. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Televised football is still one of the main ways in which football fans consume football. Earlier studies into audience receptions of televised football often used focus group interviews with football fans and generally concluded that majority ethnic audiences tend to be engaged in 'football talk' that reproduces already existing racial/ethnic stereotypes and identifications. The current study takes one step further and has explored the consumption of televised football amongst White, male football fans while it takes place. We have watched matches together with young people in England combining participant observations in domestic settings with group interviews. Results give insights into the 'backstage setting' of football consumption, identifications amongst fans with the national team, and the reproduction of racialized discourses. We will pay specific attention to the different 'shades of whiteness' that participants in our study (re)constructed based on their interpretations of the football matches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article advances recent debates on social movement (relational) fields, outcomes, and successes by suggesting that the analysis of such fields as a whole must be temporal. The relational interpersonal and intersubjective choices made by interdependent actors in social life take place in fields of interaction, but these interactions and their networks of social relations have a history. Hence, the social movement field is characterised by multiple temporal periods through which the actions of activists both shape and are shaped by the long-term socio-political environments in which they are embedded. To develop this analysis, we identify a football supporter-movement in England, 'Safe Standing', revealing the complex interplay of cultural and technological patterns of interaction across the compelling timeframes and orientations of a 30-year movement field. Adopting a theoretical framework which synthesises research on the strategic interactions of movement 'players' and 'arenas', and sport-focused security fields, we identify a series of compound and sub-players across the political, symbolic, mediatised, technological, and legislative arenas which constitute the security field of contention, in what is an under-researched lifeworld in sociology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The activities soccer players engage in during their formative years are thought to significantly contribute to the acquisition of expert performance. Whilst this area has seen great interest in male players, there has been little research in females. The study examined developmental activities engaged in by professional female soccer players in England. 56 female soccer players that had either progressed to professional status in adulthood (professional), or did not (ex-academy), completed the Participant History Questionnaire. Professional players started engaging in soccer at an earlier age than their ex-academy counterparts, resulting in greater engagement in practice and play during childhood. During adolescence, professional players engaged in higher amounts of practice than ex-academy players. Engagement in competition and practice was rated as high in physical and cognitive effort by all, yet ex-academy players reported higher levels of physical effort during early adolescence, and cognitive effort during late adolescence. Findings provide an illustration of the talent pathways of professional female soccer players in England and may inform future talent development systems. Large interindividual variation in soccer-specific and other-sport activity data highlight the importance of further understanding the environments of individual soccer nations and their potential impact on the talent identification and development processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the relationship between religion and football has gained considerable interest during the last twenty years, scant attention has been paid to the relationship between pilgrimage and football. This paper seeks to advance the study of this relationship through an exploration of collective memory about football disasters that throws fresh light on central themes within pilgrimage studies—pilgrimage as both a journey to a sacred place and the performance of diverse rituals at such places. The paper explores, in particular, the ways in which three different tragedies involving English football clubs have been commemorated through journeys to and ritual performance at places seen as sacred to those involved in commemoration—football stadiums and urban spaces, and cathedrals and pilgrimage shrines in England, Germany and Italy. Through this analysis, we seek to show how the commemoration of football disaster is linked to pilgrimage as a process where people seek healing and reconciliation through the public performance of rituals that link the local to the global. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Football violence has returned to continental Europe but not to England. This commentary explores reasons for the different experiences. It is argued that, after the Hillsborough disaster of 1989, English football recreated itself, purging what it considered its undesirable elements and transforming into a type of family entertainment. Hooliganism declined amid the changes and policing of football softened. Traditional conceptions of masculinity associated with football morphed into something consistent with today's cultural climate. Meanwhile, much of continental European football, especially in Eastern Europe, remained unchanged, leaving a football culture that resembled England's of the 1970s and 1980s. The unbridled passion, fervour and frenzy once associated with but now absent from English football, remains in continental Europe, fuelling the kinds of violence witnessed in England of the last century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper analyses the case of Egyptian footballer Mohamed Salah, from Liverpool FC in England, as a successful example of building a transcultural idol within a scenario of the internationalization of football as business. We study his social medias through organic monitoring from 2021 to 2023, to understand how the athlete image would help overcoming cultural barriers. We established five categories (work, success, family, multiculturalism, and commercial legitimacy) around cultural signs, analysing the posts in the light of the concept of hyper-ritualization. We argue that the football player manages to build a multiculturalist image by overcoming national barriers. We argue that he does this by the positive image he builds on his social medias, allowing him transit through different cultural environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article critically employs the case of association football in England, from 1980 to 2023, as a social movement timescape, to examine the political consciousness and long‐term mobilisations of a generation of football supporter activists, and their capacity to influence politics, and respond to new, emerging, critical junctures, through networks of trust and shared memories of historical events. This is of crucial importance to sociology because it reveals the tensions between what are considered legitimate and illegitimate social practices which characterise contemporary society's moral economy. Focusing on temporal contestations over regulation, policing, governance and cultural rituals, the article deconstructs the role of generations in social movements, and critically synthesises relational‐temporal sociology and classic and contemporary work on the sociology of generations, to show how legacy operates as a multifaceted maturing concept of power and time. In English football's neoliberal timescape, the supporters' movement has reached a critical juncture; the future will require a new generation of activists, to negotiate, resist and contest the new hegemonic politics of social control and supporter engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: A number of studies have investigated return to play after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR) in professional soccer players, but it is unclear which factors are associated with a return to the preinjury performance and ability to play over time. Purpose: To identify factors that contribute to a professional soccer player's return to preinjury performance after ACLR, as well as to report their playing performance at 2 and 5 years after ACLR compared with their preinjury performance. Study Design: Case-control study; Level of evidence, 3. Methods: A consecutive cohort of professional soccer players undergoing primary ACLR were analyzed between 2005 and 2019. A minimum 2-year follow-up was required. The effect of patient, surgical, and postoperative factors on performance rates, defined as a combination of league level and playing time, was evaluated with univariate and multivariate logistic regression models. Results: A total of 200 male professional soccer players were included. When combining league level and playing time, 30% of athletes returned to their preinjury performance at 2 years and 22% at 5 years. However, 53% of athletes returned to their preinjury performance for at least 1 season by year 5. At 2 years, a chondral lesion of grade 3 or 4 decreased the odds of return to preinjury performance (odds ratio [OR], 0.37; P =.010). Athletes receiving an ACLR with the addition of a lateral extra-articular tenodesis procedure were 2.42 times more likely to return to preinjury performance at 2 years than athletes with ACLR alone (P =.004). By 5 years after ACLR, athletes aged ≥25 years at the time of reconstruction were 3 times less likely to be performing at their preinjury performance (OR, 0.32; P <.001), and those with a grade ≥3 chondral lesion were >2 times less likely to be performing at their preinjury performance (OR, 0.43; P =.033). Conclusion: The presence of >50% thickness chondral pathology, ACLR without lateral extra-articular tenodesis, and age >25 years at the time of surgery were all significant risk factors of worse performance rates after ACLR. Significant decreases in performance rates were noted at 2 and 5 years postoperatively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Concussions are caused by physical trauma to the head, face, or neck and can be sustained while surfing, increasing the risk of drowning. The purpose of this pilot study was to establish a preliminary assessment of concussion knowledge in a group of adult recreational surfers. Using the standardized Concussion Knowledge Index, an anonymous survey was conducted with 55 surfers. The Concussion Knowledge Index and similar statistical measures were used in a previous study of adult soccer players in England. Data from these 2 groups were compared. The preliminary data suggests that the group of adult surfers demonstrate more concussion knowledge than the group of adult soccer players. Further study into surfers’ knowledge of concussion with a larger sample size could increase the clinical utility and generalizability of this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2021, Birmingham County Football Association (BCFA) in partnership with Newman University carried out a quantitative online review to assess coaches, volunteers, parents and young people's understanding of safeguarding information, policies and procedures in relation to football. This paper examines the findings from the children (aged 5–11) and young people (aged 12–17) using the Six Principles of Safeguarding to assess the current safeguarding measures in place to protect children and young people (CYP) playing grassroots football. The review found that whilst most CYP felt safe when playing organised football, there were some concerns raised from the young people in relation to angry parents, abuse and racism. Most children in both groupings had heard of the term safeguarding, but fewer had heard of the term welfare, and struggled to explain what welfare meant. A key finding and concern is that many CYP are not aware of the role of the Club Welfare Officer at their football club or that this might be someone to whom they can disclose issues concerning them. Furthermore, it became evident that further research, awareness raising and implementation of listening to and acting on children's voices needs to be fully embedded into safeguarding practice in children and young people's organised football. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contemporary football (soccer) is a competitive industry. Some football clubs have enacted new roles, such as the Sporting Director, to gain a competitive advantage through effective recruitment of non-playing staff. This qualitative research examines the recruitment strategies of Sporting Directors through the lens of network theory. An empirical qualitative study was conducted, involving semi-structured interviews with 25 Sporting Directors in football clubs in England (English Premier League n=12; English Championship, n=13). The qualitative data was thematically analysed. The study contributes novel evidence on recruitment in elite-level football, revealing the theoretical underpinnings and practical nature of this marketplace unique to the football industry. The evidence shows that whilst normally in recruitment weak ties are essential for getting a job, in football, trust and knowing people is the most critical aspect in recruitment, and recruiters rely on strong ties. This homophily creates several unintended implications for business and performance. This study responds to a gap in our theoretical and practical understanding of recruitment in elite-level football. The findings raise important questions for those managers and leaders involved in securing talent, as the over-reliance on closed networks may constrain the flow of information and innovation and ultimately limit the potential performance of the organisation. Homophily in recruitment processes may have unintended consequences that require further research, notably for player welfare, inequalities and performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the experiences of youth footballers as they made their transition from club football to the England youth international football teams. The club-to-international transition focuses on the movement of an individual from club sport to international representation, a within-career transition that comes with its own specific demands, characterised by the dual stakeholders of club and national governing body. The authors completed semi-structured interviews with 11 current youth footballers to better understand the type of coaching support they were provided by both club and national team coaches before, during and after international representation. Through thematic analysis, it was found that there was ambiguity as to the support offered to youth international footballers, with players explaining that feedback provided post-training camp did not support them in their development. Players also suggested the importance of sharing performance data between the domains (club and international) as good practice that helped them to have a more successful transition. These novel results suggest that the transition into youth international football should be seen as an important step in the development of the young footballer, however, clubs and national governing bodies need to work closer together to use this transition as a developmental opportunity. Several practical applications are discussed, including the importance of key stakeholders clearly outlining their responsibilities to the player during international representation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this case study, the authors elaborate on the narrative structure of transnational popular media events. Drawing from Dayan and Katz's concept of media events and Julia Sonnevend's exceptional work on iconic global media events, they argue that fundamental changes in the way occurrences are being reported on and news is structured must be considered. Allowing for recent technological advancements, the role of the consumer and the compression of time in media use, the authors develop a methodological and theoretical framework fitting a more mundane and everyday life–based approach. They derive their results from the analysis of the "Podgorica Media Event," a news cycle emerging from a racist incident during an international soccer game between England and Montenegro. Based on the body of 250 international news pieces, they identify a primary mother narration and a distinctive narration as the typical ways of storytelling on a transnational level. While differing greatly in content, aspects of transnational popular media events serve to protect and reify the cultural background they are grounded in on a national level. Thus, we assume that sport, or, more specifically, soccer, may become political in media communication not by the impact of state government but by the consumers themselves choosing and developing a popular media event in the first place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The VAR has introduced a new element to football. Before, a decision to award a penalty kick could not be reversed. The player taking the penalty could take it relatively quickly after the referee called the foul. After the introduction of the VAR, every penalty kick decision is replayed by the VAR and also quite often reviewed on-field. As a consequence, time between the initial decision by the referee and the actual penalty kick has increased substantially. We examined the influence of the time-interval duration between the foul and the actual penalty kick on the conversion probability using a logit model. Also, we assessed the consequences of a VAR intervention, if any. We used data on all 2888 penalties awarded in top leagues in England, Spain, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and the UEFA Champions League, over the course of five seasons (2015/2016–2019/2020). We found that the duration between the foul and the moment the penalty is taken does not impact the conversion probability. However, whether or not the VAR intervenes with the referee's decision has a negative effect on the conversion probability of penalty kicks. Football teams and coaches should incorporate this element of uncertainty in training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to investigate if external training load metrics differ between training days and match day (MD) during a period of fixture congestion and to verify if external load metrics vary based on playing positions. Training and MD data were collected in a part of the competition phase of the 2020-2021 season (6 weeks) in the English Football League 2 (N = 20 players, mean ± SDs: age = 24.4 ± 4.7 years). Global Navigation Satellite System units (Catapult S7 Vector 10 Hz) were used to monitor external load metrics. The metrics were duration of training, total distance (TD), high-speed running distance (HSR), sprinting distance, relative intensity (m/min), total accelerations (TotAcc) (>3 m⋅s-2), and total decelerations (TotDec) (<-3 m⋅s-2). This study found that duration, TD, relative intensity, HSR distance, sprint distance, TotAcc, and TotDec were different (p < 0.001, d = small to moderate) between MD and match day minus two (MD-2) or match day minus one (MD-1); however, during match day minus four (MD-4), only relative intensity was significantly lower (p < 0.001) compared with MD output. Therefore, MD-4 was the most demanding training session of the week (after the MD), and during MD-2 and MD-1, coaches decreased players' load to favor players' readiness. Moreover, this study found that MD and MD-1 resulted in statistically different values across several metrics between different playing positions (defenders < midfielders and strikers), whereas metrics in MD-4 and MD-2 were not statistically different, which highlights that in these sessions, players have similar external loads independently from their playing positions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine challenges to confidentiality experienced by sports psychologists in men's English football academies. Sixteen psychologists, six women, and ten men working in English football academies participated in two semi-structured interviews. We carried out a reflexive thematic analysis after each round of interviews and developed two themes: (1) challenges to client-psychologist confidentiality; (2) a context of normalized surveillance. First, participants explained that several staff members (e.g., coaches, managers, and support staff) would use covert and subtle ways to make psychologists break confidentiality. This included trying to get the psychologist to "slip up." Second, the football academy context was characterized by widespread surveillance of players. It was evident that it is common practice for clubs to gather objective and self-report data creating extreme transparency in the young people's lives. We also propose two research-based solutions allowing psychologists to handle these issues. Lay summary: Using data for talent and performance development in men's professional football academies in England is changing the context in which psychologists work. It poses new issues for confidentiality between clients and psychologists, which practitioners, clubs, and federations must consider. We propose that psychologists should work at the organizational level with leaders and coaches to handle these issues. Players and parents need updated information on their rights and consent. Psychologists should work at the systems level with coaches and staff to prevent issues of confidentiality breaches. The Premier League and the English Football League must consider the influence of new technologies in developing guidelines for clubs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We analyse the competitive effects of the centralised sale of football media rights in Europe, focusing on the "Big Five" countries (England, France, Germany, Italy, Spain). Contrary to the findings of European competition authorities, we consider that there are arguments in favour of the relevant market for domestic media rights being club- or even match-specific. This raises the question of what competition is restricted by the centralised sale if the rights on offer have limited or no substitutability. We conclude that the centralised sale of media rights is unlikely to be anticompetitive and may have procompetitive effects if the media rights of different clubs are complementary instead of substitutable. In addition, there may be efficiency gains from the bundling of media rights. Under a club or match-specific market definition, a no-single-buyer rule likely reduces the benefits from the centralised sale and may harm consumers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discretion is a key feature of policing, yet its surrounding research has historically been heavily reliant upon exploring interpersonal or dyadic encounters between individual officers and members of the public. More recently, studies have explored how discretionary decisions by police officers impact upon and interact with group-level and organisational processes but few studies have explored the relevance of discretion to debates in the literature on public order policing. Correspondingly, there is to date only a limited body of research exploring the nature and dynamics of dialogue-based football-related public order policing. This study addresses these combined gaps by drawing upon data from interviews with specialist football officers, referred to as 'spotters' or Dedicated Football Officers, from five English police forces. Our analysis critiques the idea that these specialist roles revolve merely around the surveillance, categorisation and enforcement of fans who are considered to pose a risk to public order. We highlight how these officers understand their roles in terms of the use of discretion. We argue that in a complex intergroup environment officers utilise discretion to manage perceptions of their legitimacy among supporters. This 'social capital' in turn enhances their capacity to de-escalate and avoid disorder through the promotion of self-regulatory behaviour. We discuss the relevance of our study for theoretical approaches to understanding discretion and consider the implications of our analysis for developing a more formal dialogue-focused and discretion-based approach to football crowd policing in and beyond England and Wales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article illuminates the dynamics of two of the most significant yet neglected youth subcultures of the late twentieth century: football's casual culture and the acid house scene. Through the lens of two influential fanzines, Liverpool's The End and London's Boy's Own I make a series of arguments about the relationship between 'popular individualism', emotion, and working-class communities. I argue that while conceptualizing the fanzines as 'emotional communities' can yield important insights about the role of feelings such as nostalgia in bonding people together, gendered sensibilities and satirical frameworks need to be taken into account in order to fully understand the subcultural affinities that the fanzines engendered. The framework of 'popular individualism' on the other hand can help to illuminate the tensions between individualism and collective belonging at a number of levels which the article discusses. The article concludes by noting that the analysis of these neglected subcultures offers fruitful ways of reconceptualizing community and belonging in a period when traditional forms of working-class organization were in decline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2019, the reported cost of policing football, according to an infographic on South Yorkshire Police's website, was £48 million per season with £5.5 million being recovered by the police from football clubs. These figures were discussed in Parliament and deemed accurate by politicians. Chief Constable Mark Roberts, the National Police Chiefs' Council lead for football policing, says police forces cannot continue to subsidise a multi-billion-pound industry. This research uses Freedom of Information requests submitted to all police forces in England and Wales to establish the true cost of football policing. The results demonstrate that previous data is unreliable, as the actual amount recovered through Special Police Services from football clubs averaged £10 million per season between 2015 and 2019. This paper shows that police forces do not have a grasp of how much is spent on football policing, and the £48 million headline figure is likely overestimated, raising concerns about the lack of transparency over the data in the South Yorkshire Police infographic. Finally, the paper calls for further research to establish the exact cost of football policing and consideration of more efficient methods of football policing that can help to reduce costs and prevent disorder, not only in England and Wales but across Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study was undertaken to explore the experiences of older adults and service providers in a settings-based health promotion initiative in a football club. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 10 older adults attending an 'Extra Time Hub' (ETH) and two staff delivering the initiative. Our reflexive thematic analysis generated six themes. Findings revealed the brand of the sports club attracted some to join the ETH, but through partnerships with local agencies, the initiative was also successful in widening participation beyond older adults with an interest in football. Participants perceived that the ETH was beneficial for their mental health, helped them develop social connections, and promoted positive physical activity experiences. Moreover, the variety of pleasures derived from participation were also discussed. Our findings also illustrate the central role of staff in older adults' experiences of this form of health promotion. Overall, this study contributes to understandings of settings-based health promotion activities in sports clubs, and also demonstrates the potential for sports clubs to widen engagement with the local community through health promotion for older adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to examine the talent identification and talent development experiences of referees in England. We explored with referees what they perceived to be the relevant strengths and weaknesses of the talent identification and development mechanisms utilised by football governing and development bodies in England. Currently, no research on the talent identification and development of football referees exists anywhere in the world. The paper employs a qualitative approach using thematic analysis. Semi-structured interviews with 28 participants across four different County Football Associations (CFAs) in England were conducted. Referees on the development pathway and Referee Development Officers were interviewed. Three overarching themes were identified; recruitment processes, talent identification and development, and support mechanisms. Opportunities for progression were affected by age, provision and quality of training, knowledge of the progression pathways, regional and national differences in both the recruitment and delivery of information regarding talent identification and development, and variability in the formalised support networks. Organisations who identify and develop referees at varying levels should understand the barriers associated with maximising referee progression. FIFA, UEFA, national football associations, and regional referee organisations are aware of the diminishing refereeing numbers across football, and therefore effective identification and development of referees becomes even more essential. Governing bodies should recognise that the progression pathways in place have a significant impact on referee development and therefore a successful standardised approach is essential both nationally and internationally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the 1980s Margaret Thatcher's government attempted to reduce the economic power of the industrial working class by legislating against the trade unions and defeating the 1984–85 Miners' Strike, which saw her brand the miners as the 'enemy within'. At the time English football was an important part of male working-class culture, particularly for northern industrial workers and was coming under attack from the Government and press over football hooliganism. It has often been argued that Thatcher's trade union policies were designed to break the economic power of the industrial working class. If, through comparison, a link between this policy and the treatment of football supporters is found it will determine whether this conflict had a cultural aspect. Scholars have anecdotally made this link previously, but there has not been sufficient analysis of the comparison. This treatment will not analyse any actual links between the trade union movement and football supporters, but will focus on the Government and press treatment of football and trade unions and assess whether the Government was seeking to bind the two issues together. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On 18 April 2021, 12 European football clubs collectively issued a letter of intent to form a new European Super League. This attempted coup was strongly opposed across English football. Afterwards, the responsible owner-oligarchs were singled out for special criticism from pundits and supporter organizations alike. What emerged was a focus upon the personal greed and social indifference of those individuals, but what was less forthcoming in the days following was an analysis capable of putting the 'greed thesis' into a more effective social, economic, and even historical context. This article strives for a more sociological understanding of the April 18th coup, to understand better the broader social developments in the political economy of English football from which the coup has come into being. This article calls for regulatory reform of professional football in England, to show why such reform is not merely more plausible now but more necessary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Association football has been viewed as an industry with considerable lucrative career prospects; however, this has not prevented the use of unpaid staff throughout football in the UK. There has been increasing academic research regarding the professionalisation and commercialisation of football, yet there has been little acknowledgement of the role of those working in football in an unpaid capacity. Therefore, this paper examines the culture of unpaid work in football scouting, by exploring the motivations of 12 unpaid scouts at professional clubs, from a figurational perspective. Our findings suggest that scouts want to work in the industry because of their 'love of the game', in a 'quest for excitement' in their career. Unpaid work was in the pursuit of experience and contacts, the latter of which was highly valued in the industry. Football clubs are enclosed figurations and the scouts placed importance on developing interdependent social relations to gain entry to the industry, demonstrating how football may be perceived nepotistic. The likelihood of gaining a paid role directly from an unpaid position was low and therefore the decisions to continually accept unpaid work represented the notion of fantasy-laden thinking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article critically examines the temporal mobilizations of a 25‐year football supporter social movement against the all‐seating (stadia) legislation in England and Wales, to unpack, and advance, (neo‐)Foucauldian panoptic theorizations of surveillance power and counter‐power. Drawing upon prior empirically informed analysis of this movement; 'Safe Standing', the article interrogates new policy‐based outcomes, including the early adoption of 'licensed (Safe) Standing' technology in 2022, to argue, that whilst publicly framed as a movement victory, it simultaneously serves to prefigure a new regulatory regime in football; one which extends the regulation and surveillance of fans within the wider social and corporate lifeworld. Introducing our new concept; the 'fan‐opticon', the article discusses how Safe Standing continues to normalize a momentum of surveillance in sport and highlights the contradictory nature of security‐related projects in the twenty‐first century. We conclude that the governmentality of the state through football, to be characteristic of temporally sensitive hermeneutic struggles of power and resistance, through the discipline, and self‐discipline of social actors. New forms of subjectivity are remoulded in ways which extend the power of surveillance and regulation, despite multiple counter‐conduct, and discursive, resistance practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Women's sport, and perhaps especially women's football, in England has enjoyed much greater media visibility and support over the past decade. But we still know relatively little about the response of fans of men's football to the rise of the women's game and their views on attending it. This paper highlights responses from 2,347 fans of the men's game in Britain to BBC terrestrial coverage of the FIFA Women's World Cup of 2015. It also investigates general views on women's football, experiences of attending matches and the perceived barriers to match attendance. It argues that there remains residual resistance to the women's game, but also increasing reflexivity about its performance and prospects. Concerns over the financial excesses of the men's game and about the values expressed in its elite versions additionally contribute to more positive attitudes and expectations in our sample about the future of elite women's football. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We analyse the attendance of professional football matches in England finding that it is related to unemployment over a very long period of time. More unemployment leads to lower attendances. Distinguishing between leagues, we find that the relationship is larger for lower leagues, i.e. attendances of lower quality football events are more sensitive to fluctuations in unemployment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this research was to identify the extent of, and barriers, to pro-environmental activity within community-based, association football clubs in England. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with volunteers at community football clubs in the FA county of "North Country". The ownership and management of football facilities provides for a low level of independent decision making by clubs and negates the encouragement of pro-environmental activity. Strategies for increased environmental activity in football need to look beyond individual clubs and volunteers to the way the sport is organised. This research adds to a football and environment literature in its infancy and expands consideration of the non-professional sector of the game in academic work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The adoption of the half-holiday in North Staffordshire during the mid-1870s facilitated a dramatic increase in association football activity throughout the region. However, the game was undoubtedly still in its formative stages, with various sets of contrasting rules being applied simultaneously by clubs and players, which created a significant amount of confusion and, at times, conflict. In 1877, the Staffordshire Football Association was established to provide association football in North Staffordshire with greater governance, including establishing a cup competition and adopting Sheffield Rules. Regional football associations played a central role in the growth of the game in England during the final decades of the nineteenth century, yet few scholars have sought to investigate their functions, activities and impact. This paper begins to address this gap in the literature by examining the formative years of the Staffordshire FA and exploring how it influenced the development of the game in North Staffordshire. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdown created new stressors that could potentially attenuate mental wellbeing (MW) in athletes, who are already susceptible to poor MW. This study aims to describe fluctuations to MW during "lockdown" and subsequent "return to sport" protocols, in comparison to the normal "in-season" in professional soccer. Twenty-five English Premier League (EPL) soccer players completed the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (WEMWBS) every two weeks, during the 2019/2020 season, and every week during "lockdown" and "return to training" for 28 weeks. The duration of each physical activity (PA) session completed was recorded. No significant differences were found for MW between time points (In-season, lockdown, return to training and the restart) (51.5 ± 5.6 vs. 50.7 ± 4.8 vs. 50.8 ± 5.7 vs. 50.7 ± 5.6 (p > 0.05)) respectively. Individually, differences were identified; in-season weekly session duration (243 ± 38 min) was higher than during lockdown (180 ± 62 min) (p < 0.05). During lockdown, weekly MW scores were related to the previous 7-day number of sessions (r = 0.151) and active min (r = 0.142) (p < 0.05). Furthermore, participants that exercised >250 min in lockdown, had higher MW scores (52.46 ± 4.65) than <250 min (50.35 ± 6.55) (p < 0.05). MW responses to lockdown were best understood on an individual basis. Additionally, PA only had a measurable effect on MW when >250 min. Further, stressors imposed upon players during an EPL season, are potentially greater than those inflicted by the lockdown. Implications for monitoring MW in EPL soccer players and the potential inclusion of an in-season break are discussed. Highlights Mental Wellbeing Responses, as measured by the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing scale did not change significantly at a group level across the four phases of the season. However, on an individual level changes were evident. There was a decline in the trend of wellbeing scores during in-season, return to training and the restart, but an increase in wellbeing scores during lockdown. Physical Activity had a measurable effect on wellbeing, when physical activity was >250 min during lockdown. These findings highlight the need for individual monitoring of wellbeing and longitudinal monitoring in sport to identify decline in wellbeing and implement intervention. In addition, the prescription of physical activity >250 min per week during lockdown in trained athletes may promote positive mental health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article draws on the responses of one hundred English Premier League Football fans and their perceptions of the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) during the 2019/2020 season. A multi-sited ethnographic study was applied to capture fans opinions of VAR who were physically present at matches. Data was collected at pubs, fan areas, family zones, public areas, and online on Premier League Forums and Official Message Boards. Fans indicated various themes such as accuracy, flow, in the dark, ruining the moment and acceptance. The results of this study expose significant complexities between the VAR and the experience of matchday fans. Findings also hold implications for the continuous discussion surrounding VAR in elite football. Overall, this paper contributes to the literature that explores decision-aid technology in sport and the evolution of football fandom in England. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Twenty-eight years after the Taylor Report into the Hillsborough disaster recommended that all football grounds in the top two divisions in England and Wales should become all-seated, the UK government, in 2018, announced a review into the safety of modern standing areas and whether developments in stadium safety might justify changing the all-seating legislation to permit Safe Standing. These events are the outcome of a 30-year social movement in which a critical mass of supporters, through the relational networks they formed, have built collective action. Drawing upon both archival and fieldwork research to analyse the longer-term impact which all-seated stadia have had on football supporters' consumption of the game in England, the article uses relational sociology to tell the story of the movement, and studies the working tactics and structure of a small network mobilizing across the political and discursive fields of contention post-Hillsborough. It argues that whilst now a more effective movement with technological and political capital, Safe Standing continues to raise important questions around the historical views on football fans as somehow deviant and reinforces the long-term impact and legacy of Hillsborough on supporters' modern cultural consumption of the game by moving within the parameters of the all-seating legislation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Understanding common MRI findings may allow clinicians to appreciate the sport-specific effects on the lumbar spine, and to discern clinically significant pathology. Prevalence data regarding radiological abnormalities seen during the surveillance of asymptomatic elite footballers is, therefore, important to help understand injury mechanisms and to prevent associated injuries. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings in the lumbar spines of asymptomatic elite male adolescent footballers. Methods: A prospective case-series study was carried out. MRI was performed using a 3T Siemens Prisma scanner including a 3D VIBE sequence in 18 asymptomatic male elite adolescent footballers recruited from a professional academy in England (mean age 17.8, range 16.9–18.6 years). The images were independently reported by two consultant musculoskeletal radiologists to achieve consensus opinion. Standardised classification criteria were used to assess and report abnormalities descriptively. Results: Fifteen players (15/18, 83%) showed ≥1 abnormalities, included facet degeneration, synovial cysts, disc degeneration, disc herniation, and pars injury. One player (1/18, 6%) had mild (Grade 1) facet joint arthropathy at L4/L5 and 3/18 (16.7%) showing evidence of bilateral facet joint effusions. Three synovial cysts were identified in 2/18 players (11%), 4/18 players (22%) presented asymptomatic pars injuries, with 4 showing a grade 2 subtotal stress fracture and 1 player a grade 4 chronic stress fracture seen on 3D VIBE sequencing. Disc degeneration at one or more levels was demonstrated in 7/18 players (38%). Disc herniation was present in 5/18 players (27%). Conclusion: A range of unsuspected findings on MRI of the lumbar spine are common in elite adolescent footballers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To examine whether donning lower-body garments fitted with cooled phase change material (PCM) would enhance recovery after a soccer match. Methods: In a randomized, crossover design, 11 elite soccer players from the reserve squad of a team in the second-highest league in England wore PCM cooled to 15°C (PCMcold) or left at ambient temperature (PCMamb; sham control) for 3 h after a soccer match. To assess recovery, countermovement jump height, maximal isometric voluntary contraction (MIVC), muscle soreness, and the adapted Brief Assessment of Mood Questionnaire (BAM+) were measured before 12, 36, and 60 h after each match. A belief questionnaire was completed preintervention and postintervention to determine the perceived effectiveness of each garment. Results: Results are comparisons between the 2 conditions at each time point postmatch. MIVC at 36 h postmatch was greater with PCMcold versus PCMwarm (P = .01; ES = 1.59; 95% CI, 3.9-17.1%). MIVC also tended to be higher at 60 h postmatch (P = .05; ES = 0.85; 95% CI, -0.4% to 11.1%). Muscle soreness was 26.5% lower in PCMcold versus PCMwarm at 36 h (P = .02; ES = 1.7; 95% CI, -50.4 to -16.1 mm) and 24.3% lower at 60 h (P = .04; ES = 1.1; 95% CI, -26.9 to -0.874 mm). There were no between-conditions differences in postmatch countermovement jump height or BAM+ (P > .05). The belief questionnaire revealed that players felt the PCMcold was more effective than the PCMamb after the intervention (P = .004). Conclusions: PCM cooling garments provide a practical means of delivering prolonged postexercise cooling and thereby accelerate recovery in elite soccer players. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aims to explain why organisations remain vulnerable to financial failure despite increasing financial regulation to improve governance. Using a case study of gambling and regulation in professional football in England, it introduces the concept of "regulatory legitimacy" to show how this enables football clubs to gamble. Design/methodology/approach: The study quantifies the extent to which football clubs in the Championship of the English Football League (EFL) adopt a conventionally economically irrational decision to run a loss-making budget in the hope of achieving sporting success. The study postulates criteria for evidence of this form of gambling by overspending on playing talent with data from the clubs' published financial statements. A pay-off matrix is developed to compare the intended and actual outcomes. Findings: The research finds that this strategy was both prevalent and the most successful to achieve promotion. Originality/value: This study makes three contributions. The first is the quantification of the prevalence of this form of gambling. The second is the finding that, despite regulations to limit spending on wages, gambling is rational in the non-economic sense because it is almost a necessary strategy to achieve promotion if the club had not been relegated from the Premier League in the previous season. The third contribution is the development of the concept of "regulatory legitimacy" as a way to understand the process through which regulations are implemented yet are ineffective at curbing financial gambling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The English Football League's voluntary code of coach recruitment seemingly represents a step change in the approach of authorities to addressing the continuing underrepresentation of minoritised coaches in men's professional football in England. Informed by Critical Race Theory, this article draws on qualitative data generated in 29 interviews with minoritised coaches, professional club chief executives and key organizational stakeholders to examine the code's development, implementation and effectiveness. Findings demonstrate that the implementation of the code appeared largely performative, as an absence of compliance coupled with organizational scepticism resulted in clubs continuing to operate informal recruitment processes. This engendered little meaningful change in increasing the inclusivity of coach recruitment practices and the representation of minoritised coaches in the game. The study demonstrates that more holistic and interventionist organizational approaches to equality, sensitive to the continuing salience of 'race', are needed in men's professional football coaching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The daily distribution of macronutrient intake can modulate aspects of training adaptations, performance and recovery. We therefore assessed the daily distribution of macronutrient intake (as assessed using food diaries supported by the remote food photographic method and 24-hr recalls) of professional soccer players (n = 6) of the English Premier League during a 7-day period consisting of two match days and five training days. On match days, average carbohydrate (CHO) content of the pre match (<1.5 g⋅kg-1 body mass) and post match (1 g⋅kg-1 body mass) meals (in recovery from an evening kick-off) were similar (p > .05) though such intakes were lower than contemporary guidelines considered optimal for pre match CHO intake and post match recovery. On training days, we observed a skewed and hierarchical approach (p < .05 for all comparisons) to protein feeding such that dinner (0.8 g⋅kg-1)>lunch (0.6 g⋅kg-1)>breakfast (0.3 g⋅kg-1)>evening snacks (0.1 g⋅kg-1). We conclude players may benefit from consuming greater amounts of CHO in both the pre match and post match meals so as to increase CHO availability and maximize rates of muscle glycogen resynthesis, respectively. Furthermore, attention should also be given to ensuring even daily distribution of protein intake so as to potentially promote components of training adaptation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The link between football (soccer) headings and dementia risk is a concern given the popularity of this sport worldwide. To assess this link, the cognitive ability of former professional players was tested and self‐reported estimates on heading frequency were collected. Methods: A survey was co‐designed with former players to gather demographics data; information on playing career, including playing position; estimates of total head injuries sustained in training and match play; and estimates of heading frequency during training and match play. Data then were collected by post from 60 males (mean age = 67.5; SD = 9.5), who had played professionally for teams in England. In addition to the survey, each individual also completed the Test Your Memory (TYM) self‐administered cognitive test to evaluate overall ability. Results: Bayesian and traditional linear regression analyses were carried out using the TYM score as outcome. Predictors were estimated career head injuries and estimated career headers, while we controlled for age and reported non‐football head injuries. The results of our analyses showed that estimated career headers, but not estimated career head injuries, predicted TYM scores. Conclusion: To our knowledge, this is the first study to provide direct evidence supporting a link between heading the ball and cognitive impairment in retired professional football players. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The English Premier League, the elite division of association football (soccer) in England, exploited commercial opportunities and market growth since its rebranding in 1992. The companies involved in professional football sponsorships represented a variety of industries and origins. How substantial did these representations fluctuate to indicate a periodization of sponsorship eras? This paper provides a systematic and longitudinal review of shirt sponsors within the league. The investigation of historical patterns clarified the changing playing field and the current state of play of sponsorships in English football. The remarkable patterns resulted in an interconnected periodization of five sponsorship industry eras and four sponsorship globalization eras. Future sponsorship challenges were identified regarding the corporate context, community fundamentals and the level of involvement affecting new sponsorship eras. These patterns in the world-leading football competition serve as an excellent case for decision makers in other domains to recognize the dynamics in corporate community involvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Sport workforce strategy in the United Kingdom (UK) has identified the occupational therapy profession as being ideally positioned to contribute to public health agendas relating to tackling physical inactivity amongst marginalised populations, such as disabled people and people with experience of mental distress. However, a robust understanding of the enablers, restrictions, and exclusions such groups encounter when seeking to participate in sport and physical activity is currently lacking. Methods: This study aimed to gain an in‐depth understanding of the different ways people with experience of mental distress talked about their participation in a community‐based football league in England, in the UK. Nine people took part in this strand of a larger participatory action research (PAR) study, which used go‐along interviews as the method of data collection. In alignment with PAR seeking to address power imbalances, the data from the go‐along interviews were analysed through a Foucauldian lens using a collaboratively produced analytic framework. Findings Participants constructed the community‐based football league as fostering feelings of purpose and belonging, against a backdrop of them describing experiencing stigma and exclusion when seeking to be active in their wider communities. They used the concept of occupational marginalisation to further interpret their situation. Conclusion: Understanding why and how people participate in football extends beyond seeing it as an individual exercise to shared social lives and occupations. With this perspective, occupational therapists could address occupational marginalisation in partnership with community sports organisations, collaborating for wider social change beyond specialist services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global soccer market has seen a growth in the professionalization of women's teams and as a result, spectatorship and fandom have augmented. Women's soccer was historically perceived as a taboo; however, stakeholder support has generated visibility and enhanced commercialization opportunities. The Football Association in England instituted the Women's Super League (hereafter WSL) during 2010, and the first season commenced in 2011 with eight teams. Subsequently, in 2021 there were 12 professional women's teams in the top-tier of the league and 11 teams in the championship. A qualitative case study approach is utilized, via the use of semi-structured interviews to explore the demographics and motives of women who watch soccer at the elite level and their socialization into fan communities. The study concludes by acquiring an understanding of the consumption of female soccer fans within the WSL and focuses upon the relationship between supporter clubs and fan socialization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sport psychology has become increasingly recognized and accepted within professional sports, including soccer. To date, there is a lack of research that examines the provision of sport psychology within elite soccer, particularly from the experience of applied practitioners working within the field. The current study adopted a qualitative, inductive approach, to examine the experiences of practitioners responsible for sport psychology delivery within elite soccer academies in England. Seven participants (four females; three males), working within academies in the English Premier League, took part in semi-structured interviews about their experience of delivering sport psychology services within elite soccer academies. Results demonstrated that the provision of sport psychology is continually evolving, yet there are a number of factors that appear to inhibit the full integration of the discipline into academy soccer. Six key themes were identified: The breadth of sport psychology provision; what is sport psychology; the stigma surrounding sport psychology services; psychological literacy; the elite youth soccer environment; and the delivery of sport psychology under the Elite Player Performance Plan. Participants identified a lack of psychological literacy among coaches and academy staff, as well as a low level of guidance regarding the provision of psychology within the England Football Association's guiding document—the Elite Player Performance Plan—leading to considerable variation in the nature of the sport psychology provision. Future research would do well to also sample from a range of staff working within English soccer academies, in order to assess their perception of the level of provision and understanding of psychology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an attempt to better identify and inform the energy requirements of elite soccer players, we quantified the energy expenditure (EE) of players from the English Premier League (n = 6) via the doubly labeled water method (DlW) over a 7-day in-season period. Energy intake (EI) was also assessed using food diaries, supported by the remote food photographic method and 24 hr recalls. The 7-day period consisted of 5 training days (TD) and 2 match days (MD). Although mean daily EI (3186 ± 367 kcals) was not different from (p > .05) daily EE (3566 ± 585 kcals), EI was greater (p < .05) on MD (3789 ± 532 kcal; 61.1 ± 11.4 kcal.kg-1 LBM) compared with TD (2956 ± 374 kcal; 45.2 ± 9.3 kcal.kg-1 LBM, respectively). Differences in EI were reflective of greater (p < .05) daily CHO intake on MD (6.4 ± 2.2 g.kg-1) compared with TD (4.2 ± 1.4 g.kg-1). Exogenous CHO intake was also different (p < .01) during training sessions (3.1 ± 4.4 g.h-1) versus matches (32.3 ± 21.9 g.h-1). In contrast, daily protein (205 ± 30 g.kg-1, p = .29) and fat intake (101 ± 20 g, p = .16) did not display any evidence of daily periodization as opposed to g.kg-1, Although players readily achieve current guidelines for daily protein and fat intake, data suggest that CHO intake on the day before and in recovery from match play was not in accordance with guidelines to promote muscle glycogen storage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To quantify the accumulative training and match load during an annual season in English Premier League soccer players classified as starters (n = 8, started ≥60% of games), fringe players (n = 7, started 30-60% of games) and nonstarters (n = 4, started <30% of games). Methods: Players were monitored during all training sessions and games completed in the 2013-14 season with load quantified using global positioning system and Prozone technology, respectively. Results: When including both training and matches, total duration of activity (10,678 ± 916, 9955 ± 947, 10,136 ± 847 min; P = .50) and distance covered (816.2 ± 92.5, 733.8 ± 99.4, 691.2 ± 71.5 km; P = .16) were not different between starters, fringe players, and nonstarters, respectively. However, starters completed more (all P < .01) distance running at 14.4-19.8 km/h (91.8 ± 16.3 vs 58.0 ± 3.9 km; effect size [ES] = 2.5), high-speed running at 19.9-25.1 km/h (35.0 ± 8.2 vs 18.6 ± 4.3 km; ES = 2.3), and sprinting at >25.2 km/h (11.2 ± 4.2 vs 2.9 ± 1.2 km; ES = 2.3) than nonstarters. In addition, starters also completed more sprinting (P < .01, ES = 2.0) than fringe players, who accumulated 4.5 ± 1.8 km. Such differences in total high-intensity physical work done were reflective of differences in actual game time between playing groups as opposed to differences in high-intensity loading patterns during training sessions. Conclusions: Unlike total seasonal volume of training (ie, total distance and duration), seasonal high-intensity loading patterns are dependent on players' match starting status, thereby having potential implications for training program design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While traditional approaches to dietary analysis in athletes have focused on total daily energy and macronutri-ent intake, it is now thought that daily distribution of these parameters can also influence training adaptations. Using 7-day food diaries, we quantified the total daily macronutrient intake and distribution in elite youth soccer players from the English Premier League in U18 (n = 13), U15/16 (n = 25) and U13/14 squads (n = 21). Total energy (43.1 ± 10.3, 32.6 ± 7.9, 28.1 ± 6.8 kcal⋅kg-1⋅day-1), CHO (6 ± 1.2,4.7 ± 1.4, 3.2 ± 1.3 g⋅kg-1⋅day-1) and fat (1.3 ± 0.5, 0.9 ± 0.3, 0.9 ± 0.3 g⋅kg-1⋅day-1) intake exhibited hierarchical differences (p < .05) such that U13/14 > U15/16 > U18. In addition, CHO intake in U18s was lower (p < .05) at breakfast, dinner and snacks when compared with both squads but no differences were apparent at lunch. Furthermore, the U1 5/16s reported lower relative daily protein intake than the U1 3/14s and U1 8s (1.6 ± 0.3 vs. 2.2 ± 0.5, 2.0 ± 0.3 g⋅kg-1). A skewed distribution (p < .05) of daily protein intake was observed in all squads, with a hierarchical order of dinner (~0.6 g⋅kg-1) > lunch (-0.5 g⋅kg-1) > breakfast (-0.3 g⋅kg-1). We conclude elite youth soccer players do not meet current CHO guidelines. Although daily protein targets are achieved, we report a skewed daily distribution in all ages such that dinner > lunch > breakfast. Our data suggest that dietary advice for elite youth players should focus on both total daily macronutrient intake and optimal daily distribution patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]