Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2025 Jul 8;20(7):e0327721.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0327721. eCollection 2025.

Perceptual-cognitive skills and talent development environments in soccer: A scoping review

Andrew O Triggs  1   2 , Joe Causer  2 , Allistair P McRobert  2 , Matthew Andrew  3
Affiliations

Perceptual-cognitive skills and talent development environments in soccer: A scoping review

Andrew O Triggs et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Perceptual-cognitive skills are a key performance component within professional soccer. Consequently, their role within talent development environments has gained increasing attention. Despite this growing interest, research linking perceptual-cognitive skills to the talent development process remains relatively limited. The present study provided a scoping review examining perceptual-cognitive skills within soccer-specific environments within the last three decades, with a particular focus on outcomes relevant to talent development contexts. Following PRISMA guidelines, specific inclusion and exclusion criteria were set, where 55 studies were included in the final review. Narrative analysis identified key themes in the literature, including visual search behaviours, cognitive capabilities, performance, and methodologies. These themes are discussed with areas for future research identified to support the work of stakeholders in talent development contexts (e.g., coaches, scouts, academy directors), to re-direct future research efforts to further bridge the gap between science and application.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Number of PCS-soccer specific publications returned from initial inclusion criteria search from 2003 (03) to 2024 (24).
Fig 2
Fig 2. PRISMA flow chart of process to generate studies for review.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Reeves MJ, McRobert AP, Littlewood MA, Roberts SJ. A scoping review of the potential sociological predictors of talent in junior-elite football: 2000–2016. Soccer Soc. 2018;19(8).
    1. Güllich A, Cronauer R, Diehl J, Gard L, Miller C. Coach-assessed skill learning progress of youth soccer players correlates with earlier childhood practice in other sports. Int J Sports Sci Coach. 2020;15(3):285–96.
    1. Roberts AH, Greenwood DA, Stanley M, Humberstone C, Iredale F, Raynor A. Coach knowledge in talent identification: A systematic review and meta-synthesis. J Sci Med Sport. 2019;22(10):1163–72. - PubMed
    1. Bennett KJ, Vaeyens R, Fransen J. Creating a framework for talent identification and development in emerging football nations. Sci Med Footb. 2019;3(1):36–42.
    1. Reeves MJ, Roberts SJ. Perceptions of performance analysis in elite youth football. Int J Performance Anal Sport. 2013;13(1):200–11.

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources