Zeitschrift für neuartige Physiotherapien

Abstrakt

Cognition in Football

Ricard Pruna and Khatija Bahdur

Football players are required to make instantaneous and continuous decisions throughout the match, without have pre-determined playing sequences at their disposal. The football field is an unpredictable area, with players required to access cues from team-mates, opponents, the ball, playing surface, environment, coaches and referees. A high level of cognitive skill is required to enable players to fulfill their physical and technical potential. Skills such as game intelligence, spatial perception, anticipation, reaction time, attention shifting, and pattern recognition is relevant cognitive skills. These skills can be enhanced by ensuring training sessions train not just the physical components but also challenge and train the neural pathways. This review looks at some of the important cognition elements that are relevant in football performance.