Elite Soccer Players Are Smarter Than You Are

Wired: Elite Soccer Players Are Smarter Than You Are

Elite soccer players are smarter than you are, and the sharpest of them score more often than dimmer teammates.

Top-tier players think more clearly, quickly and flexibly than non-players, and there is a correlation between cognitive ability and the number of goals and assists a soccer player scores, Swedish researchers found. The study, published in the journal PLoS One, says measuring cognitive skill could predict a player’s potential.

“Our data suggest that measures of executive functions with validated neuropsychological tests may establish if a player has the capacity to reach top levels in soccer,” the researchers wrote. “Thus, the present study may change the way ball-sports are viewed and analyzed and how new talents are recruited.” ...

...  Petrovic and his colleagues used standardized tests to analyze the executive functions of 31 male and 26 female soccer players over the course of five months in 2007. The players were drawn from six teams in Sweden’s elite Allsvenskan league and five teams in next-tier Division 1. Players from both groups performed far better than non-players, with Allsvenskan footballers ranked among the top 5 percent of the general population. The Allsvenskans also outscored their Division 1 counterparts.

The research then moved to the pitch as the scientists followed several players between 2008 and 2010 to record the number of goals and assists they made. Here, too, the smartest players performed best, even after accounting for age and position. ...

It would be interesting to know if other elite athletes in other sports have similar cognitive advantages. I had a roommate in graduate school who was getting his Ph.D. in Psychology. I remember him showing me a study about perception of field and ground among American football players. One of the key issues there was that pro running backs had a keen ability to see the spaces between players versus seeing the players themselves.

Comments

[ZZMike]

There was another study, a few years back, that showed that top-rated tennis players (for example) had an uncanny ability to sense just where the ball was going to be when they needed to hit it back. I doubt this is any kind of "telepathic" ability - just the ability to read their opponent's movements with great accuracy.

It would be interesting to see if soccer players scored high on that one. I would bet on it.

I would argue, though, that since the tests measured
"general executive functions", it would be premature to connect that with "smarter". Most professional basketball players would score high, but few would seem to be smarter than average.