Unified approaches on talent development in football? Differences and similarities among representatives from a football association and two professional football clubs

Abstract

Talent development is a major task for most coaches, both in professional and non-professional clubs. This study provides a qualitative analysis of how coa- ches and administrators from both the national football association and two pro- fessional clubs express their beliefs on coaching/skill acquisition perspective on how talent development should be done. This article consists of 14 semi-structured interviews with three administrators and two coaches at the Norwegian football federation and two administrators and seven coaches from two professional clubs. The results suggest shared views on the necessity of joining a professional club to become an elite player, although the perceived importance of the professional clubs differs among the respondents. Concerning early recruitment, some of the asso- ciation and elite coaches believe present practice is able to identify and recruit the most talented players. The professional clubs are also aware of the risk of missing out on talented players, but justify their practice of early recruitment of talented players on increased competition. These different perspectives on talent develop- ment comparing representatives from the association and professional clubs could potentially effect the future talent development process and results.